Fearless: Love Causes It
by Hatter of Madness
Summary: Cedric Diggory has the perfect life: Triwizard champion, extremely handsome, more friends than he can count. But he also has a secret...a secret love. AU. Cedric OOC. Cedric/OC. A bit of Harry/OC. A bit of Cedric/Cho.
1. Friends

**~*~Fearless: Love Causes It~*~**  
><strong>by Hatter of Madness<strong>

* * *

><p>After being happily for four years, all Amos and Lucy Diggory had to present their marriage was their small son, Cedric. They were a wizarding family, as Amos and Lucy had met at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. By the time he was eight years old, he was a bit reserved but very polite. He was very wondrous and thought a lot to himself. It worried his parents that, even though they lived very close to three wizard families, all of which had children around his age, he had no desire to make friends.<p>

One day, in the small kitchen, Cedric could hear his mother and another woman's voice and arrived to investigate. "Oh, hello honey," his mother said when he entered the room. "You know Katie, don't you?"

Katie Lewis, or, as Cedric called her, Mrs. Next Door, was the wife of one of his father's friends, Braiden. Katie was a Muggleborn witch, meaning that her parents had no magical ability whatsoever. Her husband, however, hailed from a line of pureblood wizards that went back for centuries. According to Lucy, they had one daughter a few years younger than Cedric.

"How do you do, Mrs. Lewis," he said politely.

"I've always liked your son," Katie said, smiling politely at Lucy. "I'm well. How are you?"

"Well, Mum and Dad told me I came from a stork, but—"

Sensing danger, Lucy interjected, "You were saying, Katie?"

Smile slightly faded, she said, "Yes. It's about Maddie."

"And what about her?" Lucy said, getting out her wand and using the summoning charm to get a coffee pot across the room. "Would you like some coffee, Katie?"

"No, thanks, trying to cut down," Lucy said, clasping her hands together. "Anyway. About Maddie."

"Who's Maddie?" Cedric asked.

"Katie's daughter," his mother said.

"I didn't know you had a daughter, Katie," he said.

"Don't be silly, of course you do," Lucy said. "She's Braiden's daughter, too, remember? Your father and I talk about her sometimes… How old is she again, Katie?"

"Just turned four," Katie said, smiling slightly.

Lucy sighed. She turned back to her neighbor. "I remember those days. Probably the best time, remember that. I wish…" She shook her head, off topic. "Anyway. You were saying?"

"Well, I figured it was about time for me to go back to work."

"Good for you!" Lucy said, smiling as she poured some coffee into a mug for herself.

Katie blushed scarlet. "Yes, well, the only problem is, what with Bray working at the Ministry all the time, we don't have anyone to watch Maddie. I mean…my mother, but you know how she feels about magic." Joan, Katie's mother, was a Muggle. She disapproved strongly of magic, and thought that since both Katie's husband and daughter had vibrant green eyes and were magic that they were pure evil. "And then there's Molly, but I wouldn't feel right giving her another child to care for. Xenophilius either. I'm a bit concerned for his own daughter, really."

"Ah," Lucy said, already suspecting what Katie wanted.

"I hate to ask," Katie said, biting her lip nervously, "but…well, I need someone to watch her…"

"It's no trouble," Lucy assured. "You know how Amos and I feel about her." She smiled warmly at her. "And we have Cedric, too. She won't be all alone."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you," she said. "I wasn't sure what I would do…" Checking her watch, she said, "I'd better go. Bray's about to leave for work…"

"Take care," Lucy said, stirring her coffee. With a faint _pop_, Katie Disapparated. Lucy took a drink of her coffee, then looked at her son. "You will help Mummy, won't you?"

"I'm not that young anymore, Mum," Cedric said. "You don't have to talk in the third person anymore. And what do you mean, help you? Help you with what?"

"With babysitting," she said, adding some cream to her coffee with her wand.

"Babysitting?"

"Yes, dear," she said, stirring her coffee again. "You heard Mrs. Lewis, she needs someone to watch her daughter. I agreed to do it for her. Just trying to be neighborly."

There was a poignant silence. "Mum?" She glanced up. "May I have some coffee?"

"No." She took another drink. He started to leave the room. "Oh—Cedric? A word?"

He turned. "What?"

"I think this will be good for you."

He stared at her. "How?"

"Well, it's difficult for you to talk to children, isn't it? Maybe this will help your social skills. That's why I wanted you to help me. Can you do that? Please? For me?"

He looked at her for a moment in thought. "I suppose. Sure."

She grinned. "Thank you."

He nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "Mum?" She raised her eyebrows in question. "Can we get a dog?"

She frowned. "Absolutely not."

Cedric was in his room, looking out the window and trying to figure out where exactly clouds came from. He had just turned eight years old. Lost in his thoughts, he could clearly his mother's voice carry up the stairs again. "There were once _three brothers_ who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time…"

Going down the stairs, he saw his mother sitting beside a very little girl on their sofa, looking at his copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. They looked up as he entered the room; the little girl turned away, embarrassed. "Hello, Cedric," his mother said, smiling. "Would you like to join us? We were reading the Tale of the Three Brothers."

He hesitantly sat in the armchair across the room. "However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water." She continued telling the story; Cedric barely listened, too busy watching the little girl sitting on his couch. She was staring at the text, but she had to be too young to know how to read yet.

"Do you like that story?" Lucy asked when it was done. The little girl turned away again, still embarrassed. She looked up at her son. "Cedric…this is Maddie, Katie's daughter?" She looked down at the blonde girl. "Can you say hello?"

Maddie glanced up, said, "Hi," and turned away again.

"Just shy," she assured her son. She started to stand up. "You look pretty today, don't you, Miss Maddie?"

The little girl smiled, embarrassed, her cheeks turning a brighter red than usual. She had on pink Mary Jane shoes, with black tights, a pink skirt and black shirt, and a pink jacket. Her blonde hair was pinned out of her face with a butterfly clip.

"Doesn't she?" she asked her son. He said nothing. "I said, _doesn't she look nice today, Cedric?_"

Suddenly afraid, he started nodding his head. "Yeah—yes, she does, Mum."

She narrowed her eyes. "Cedric, may I have a word with you? _Privately?_" Cedric sighed, rising to his feet as his mother moved off the couch. Maddie hid her face as Cedric passed. Safely in the kitchen, Lucy said sharply, "Cedric, you're _supposed_ to be helping me!"

"With _what?_" Cedric said impatiently.

"Maddie's _shy. _She needs a little help coming out of her shell. _Please_ don't fight with me. Maybe she'll get along with you better if…" She smiled mischievously. "Come."

"Mum?" Cedric said, cautiously, but followed her anyway. "What are you…"

"Maddie, sweetie," Lucy said, entering the room again. The little girl looked up. "Do you mind if I leave you alone with Cedric?" She looked at her feet and shook her head. "Okay. Cedric," she hissed, "_please._" She left the room.

Maddie looked up to see if Cedric was looking at her, and, seeing he was, made an odd sound, sort of like a cat being sat on, and looked away again.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," Cedric said calmly. She stared at him with vivid green eyes. "I don't bite."

"I'm not afraid." It was the most she had said since he had first laid eyes on her.

"No?" he asked curiously. "Then why did you hide from me?"

She blushed scarlet again. "I don't know you."

"You can't say that anymore," he said, then extended his hand. "Cedric. Cedric Diggory."

"I can't say that," she said with a lisp.

"Why?"

She pulled her lips back, revealing an overbite. "I have a lisp," she said, still lisping. "Mummy says that when I lose my baby teeth it should go away but Daddy doesn't think so. He says I might have to see this Muggle person that deals with teeth."

Cedric blinked, lowering his hand. "Oh."

She grabbed his hand and shook it. "I'm Maddie."

"So I've heard." He took his hand back slowly.

She fidgeted. It was hard to believe that just a few minutes earlier, she could not even look Cedric in the eye without getting nervous. "I don't _really_ look that pretty today, really," she said, pulling on the fabric of her skirt. "Mummy still picks my clothes. I hate this. If I dressed myself…" She stopped talking.

"I think I liked you better when you didn't talk."

"I think I liked _you_ better when I thought you'd bite."

"Gee, thanks."

"I'm only joking." She smiled. "I _do _like you."

Now his turn to be embarrassed, he said, "Uh…do you want to take your jumper off? We're indoors. You don't need it."

She took it off. He reached out to take it, but she grinned and said, "Watch this." In a few moments, the jacket shot off the couch past Cedric, forcing him to jump out of the way, as it flew on the coatrack. She laughed. He looked at her.

"Are you trying to take me out, or what?"

"Mummy says I'm not allowed to do that," she said suddenly, looking embarrassed again. "But of course, as long as they think it's _accidental magic…_"

He stared at her. "How do you do that?"

"Well, I'm not _supposed_ to…"

"Can you teach me?"

There were some things that people could not go through without becoming close to one another. As it turned out, teaching someone how to 'accidentally' send a jumper around the room using magic was one. After a while, there was a knock at the door. Lucy appeared at the foot of the stairs and allowed Maddie's mother in the house. "Come on, sweetie," she said, "it's almost time for supper."

Maddie stood. "Oh—Mrs. Diggory, have you seen my jumper?"

"Yes, dear, it was on the cat," she said in an odd voice, as a very cross looking black cat ran out of the room quickly, her jacket discarded on the floor. The two children glanced at one another and tried to hide giggles.

"Bye," she said politely to Lucy. "Bye, Ceddie," she said, turning to her new friend and smiling.

He frowned. "What?" he said curiously. "What did you call me?"

Without explaining, amidst a fit of giggles, she grabbed her mother's hand as they left.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, version number...FOUR of this story! :P I think I'm finally getting it how I originally wanted everything. So. Yay. Stories are good. Anyway. I first got this idea three years ago already. o.o Maybe two. Yeah...yeah, it was two. I published it on my original FanFiction account, TohruROX2221, under the names Four Walls and Love's Keen Sting. I hated them both. xP So I rewrote it here under the name Fearless, and didn't like that one either. So. Hopefully here is the final draft of this story! Oh, and please help me come up with a better summary. I suck at them. Really, really, <em>reall<em>_y _badly. Please review.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	2. Memories Made

By the time that Cedric was nine years old and Maddie five, they had become completely inseparable. Their families often spent many warm nights outside, eating dinner together and chatting. They were often joined by the Weasleys and, on a few occasions, their other neighbors, Xenophilius Lovegood; his wife, Lucienne; and their young daughter, Luna.

On one night when they were joined by the Lovegoods, the little family snuck off to go look at some of the odd creatures Xenophilius and Lucienne believed in strongly. They had taken Luna along to give her 'firsthand experience of the wizarding world'. During this time, Molly Weasley could be heard reprimanding her twin sons, Fred and George, for something; no one was entirely sure what. This left the Diggorys and the Lewises alone.

"How are you today, Maddie?" Amos asked politely. At the age of five, Maddie had a very diverse vocabulary and could hold a conversation, with the people she was comfortable with, better than Cedric.

"Exceptionally ordinary," she said, displaying both this vocabulary and her lisp.

Amos laughed. "And why is that?"

"Because everything _else_ is exceptionally ordinary."

"Sweetheart…" her mother warned.

"Mummy, Mummy…" Maddie said excitedly, turning to face her mother and choosing her words carefully, so as not to lisp. "Am I old enough to get married?"

"Absolutely not."

"How old do I have to be…"

"I do not even want to _hear_ the word 'marriage' leave your mouth for at least another fifteen years, dear!" her mother said firmly.

"So what's this about marriage?" Amos asked.

"I want to get married," she said simply.

"Are you going to marry Cedric then?" he asked, smirking. She shook her head 'no'. "Oh? Why not?"

She thought, looked at Cedric, then turned back to Amos. "For one thing," she said seriously, "he's a boy." Cedric blushed bright scarlet, biting his lip.

Laughing, Amos said, "Slightly worried about your daughter, are you, Braiden?"

"She's only five," Braiden said quickly, hoping that that would be an excuse.

"Oh, but maybe one day—after those fifteen years are over," Amos said, for Katie's sake and looking at her with a knowing look on his face, "—maybe they'll end up marrying each other?"

He and Braiden started laughing and Cedric turned a brilliant shade of scarlet. "We'd be quite a family," Braiden said.

"Oh, you two," Lucy said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Can I have a word with you?" Cedric whispered in Maddie's ear. She turned and followed, but not before her mother could catch them and call, "Stay close, dear!" Maddie was giggling as she followed Cedric, looking over at first their two families, then the Lovegoods, who were standing in very shallow water looking at Merlin knew what, and finally the Weasleys, where Molly was chasing Fred and George with her wand.

"What's this about?" Cedric asked once they were a safe distance away. "Marriage? You're only five, what do you want to get married for?"

"I can't tell you," she said, suddenly serious.

"Why?"

"You'll laugh at me."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Maddie…"

"No, you will!"

He put his hands on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "What is it? You can tell me. We're friends, right? We tell each other everything, don't we?"

She frowned and said, "I'm in love."

Cedric frowned too. "You're also five."

"It doesn't matter!" she said. "I'm in love with someone!"

He smiled. "Alright, you're in love with someone, who?"

She bit her lip nervously, then shook her head. "I can't tell you that. You'll laugh."

"And when I have laughed at you before?"

She searched his eyes as though looking at them would let him know what she was too afraid to tell him. "Well…"

Her mother came over then. "Maddie, dear, it's getting dark," she said quietly. She smiled politely at her daughter's conversational partner. "Hello, Cedric."

"Hello, Katie." He shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"But _Mum…_" she complained.

"Let's go!" Her mother sounded impatient. "You can see Cedric first thing in the morning, can't you wait?"

"No." She frowned, turned to follow her mother, then turned one more time to mouth one word to Cedric: _Fred._

* * *

><p>But by the time she was six and Cedric was ten, she had <em>completely<em> forgotten all about Fred. One day, she was outside with her mother when Katie saw Cedric with Fred and George Weasley. Approaching them, she said, "Cedric? I hate to bother you, but…but can you watch her?" Maddie was smiling.

"Hi Ceddie!" she said happily.

As Fred and George snickered to themselves, he said, "Uh…sure…"

"Thank you," she sighed. "You're a life saver." And with a loud _pop,_ she Disapparated.

It proved that Fred and George did not appreciate her company; as soon as Katie was gone, they started laughing, not at all trying to be quiet. "Oh, _look,_ Fred," George said to his twin, as Cedric started turning red.

"It's ickle Maddie-kins," Fred said back, as the twins started laughing.

"Leave her alone," Cedric said quietly.

Maddie looked up at them, saying, "Ced-_die,_" emphasizing the two syllables. The three boys turned around. "What are you doing?" she asked, smiling.

"Stuff that little girls shouldn't be involved in," George said, looking at Fred for support.

"Go back to your dolls and tea parties," Fred said, smiling back at George.

"You _know _I don't play with dolls or do tea parties," she said, getting very angry very fast. "And I didn't ask _you._ I asked Ceddie…"

The boys roared with laughter. "Oi, did you hear that, George?" Fred asked.

"I _believe_ I heard a small person request to talk to _Ceddie,_" George said back.

Cedric bit his lip, not looking at Maddie, who was getting very worked up very fast. "Well, I _do_ want to talk to him!" she said, getting dangerously close to the three of them, then got as close as she possibly could to Cedric without touching him. The twins stopped talking for a minute to observe. Her long blonde curls fanned out behind her in the breeze, her pink dress rippling at her legs. "Ceddie," she said dangerously.

"Hello, Mad," he said quietly. As per usual, he was dressed in very fancy clothing.

"Why don't you play with me anymore?"

The twins started roaring with laughter again. One of them—George—even fell to the ground, getting grass stains on his new blue jeans. "Oh!" Fred said, leaning forward and putting his hands on his knees. "Rich! This is _rich!_"

"She wants to _play_ with us!" George said.

"Ickle Maddie-kins wants to play with the boys!" Fred and George taunted together.

"Come off it," Cedric said, looking at them. In all honesty, he was only with Fred and George because his mother said he needed some playmates of his own age—and gender. "Look, Mad…we're doing stuff your mother doesn't approve of. Understand?"

"I understand," she said dangerously. "I understand that you don't want anything to do with me, and these two are the cause of it."

"He doesn't want anything to do with you…" Fred started.

"…because you _can't_ come with us," George said.

"I want to come!" she said, getting very red in the face. _Please don't cry, _Cedric begged.

"You can't," George said.

"Why not?"

"Because you're a _girl,_" Fred finished.

And at that, Maddie lunged at him.

George and Cedric were shocked, not sure what to do. They were punching each other, pulling each other's hair, and…Maddie slapped Fred hard across the face.

"Mad!" Cedric said in disbelief.

But they didn't listen, still clawing at each other. Maddie had a clump of Fred's red hair in her hand, and he was yanking repeatedly on one of her blonde curls. Maddie swiped at his hand to get him to let go, which he did, but not without retaliation: He punched her in the mouth and she fell to the ground, at which point he sat on her.

They continued their fight on the ground as both Cedric and George tried to break them up. George had a hand on Fred's arm, trying to pull him off, but Fred threw his twin's hand off, still fighting with Maddie. She was spitting out blood, and, in horror, Cedric realized her two front teeth were missing. Fred had pulled his arm back, about ready to give an uppercut to her jaw, when suddenly—

Maddie had gone very red in the face again and, narrowing her eyes, glared at Fred, going motionless. And in a flash, he was flying away from her, as though an invisible string was yanking him. He had some of her blood on his hands, and he landed in a heap on the ground, getting up slowly and rubbing his head. George looked between Maddie, who was brushing dirt off of her dress, and his twin, then ran off for home.

Cedric yanked her up by the hand, dragging her over to the shade of a tree, and parking her in front of him, folding his arms over his chest. "You shouldn't have done that, Maddie."

"You saw what he did!" she shrieked, tears falling out of her eyes. It was difficult to understand her. "You saw! I had to—I had to do _something_…!"

"What you did was _magic,_ Mad," he said angrily, his arms folded over his chest. "That's illegal."

"I didn't mean to!" She was crying. "But—he—he—" She was struggling to catch her breath. "He was on top of me! He was hitting me! I was just fighting back and… I didn't mean to throw him off me, it was just…"

"You need to control yourself!" Cedric said exasperatedly. "You _know_ that we live by Muggles! You're a _witch._ What do you think the Muggles would have thought—what would they have _done_ if they saw Fred flying through the air with blood on his fists? Don't you think that would have been a bit suspicious?" He looked at her with a furrowed brow. He did not seem pleased.

"I didn't mean to throw him!" She was now heavily in tears. The lisp was suddenly gone. "I just meant…I just wanted him to get off of me! He's bigger than I am! I didn't have a chance!"

"You shouldn't be picking fights," Cedric said simply.

"Well, you and Fred and George play dirty all the time," Maddie pouted. "I don't see—"

"We're _boys. _You're a girl. You're going to get yourself…"

"I'M NOT GOING TO HURT MYSELF!" Her small hands were clenched in white fists. "_He'_s the one that knocked my teeth out! _He _did it! I was just…"

"He didn't even knock them _out,_" Cedric said, trying to remain calm. It was no use getting her angrier than she already was. "You swallowed them."

Sniffling, she whispered, as though uttering a curse, "You hate me."

"Maddie Lewis…"

"You hate me, I can see it!"

He sighed, placing both hands on her shoulders. "I don't hate you. I _can't_ hate you. You're my best friend, Maddie." She was in tears again, shaking all over. "You're like my _sister_. I just don't know how to explain this to your mother. I was supposed to be watching you…"

She rubbed her bloodshot eyes. "You're right."

"How do you suggest I explain this to your mum?" he asked, slightly worried. "Hmmm? Or _my_ mum? They'll never let me watch you again. Or how about Mrs. Weasley? She'll murder Fred after this, you know…"

"Don't tell my mum."

He took his hands off her shoulders, wiping some stray blood from the corner of her mouth in a brotherly fashion. "I think she'll notice that your teeth are missing," he said.

Hopefully, Maddie said, "Maybe we can hide it."

Cedric smiled, shaking his head. "I had better explain this," he said, taking her hand and leading her home. When they arrived and found that neither Katie nor Braiden were home, Maddie was hopeful; maybe then she could come up with a story to tell her parents. But soon, her mother was back from grocery shopping and noticed that Maddie's front teeth were definitely missing. After Cedric explained as calmly as he could, she started panicking, shouting at her daughter in anger. Immediately, she told Lucy and Molly; the latter made not only the responsible twin but both of her sons apologize to the little girl.

Before they did, however, Molly shouted at them, "Just _what_ do you have to say for yourselves?"

Fred smiled a coy smile. "Well, on the bright side…her lisp is gone."

* * *

><p>The worst thing to happen to their friendship, though, was when Cedric was eleven. He had received his Hogwarts letter.<p>

He had shown her in excitement; after all, they had talked about being in school together and how much fun it would be to be at school in general. But when he showed her, she was less than enthusiastic.

"What's that?" she asked nervously.

"My Hogwarts letter," he said, the smile fading from his face. Obviously, she was not happy.

By now, she had almost completely given up on saying 'Ceddie' since she had the ability to say his full name. Her teeth had just come back in, straight and without a gap, apart from where other teeth had fallen out. Her mother was right; she did not have to deal with a dentist after all. "Cedric…" she said quietly.

"Aren't you happy?" he asked nervously.

She shook her head 'no'. "You're leaving."

"It's not my fault," he said carefully. "I had no control over…"

"Don't leave."

"I have no choice, Mad." It was hard for him to get excited when she was acting like that.

"You can stay and just try again next year," she tried.

He sighed, trying to find a good way to explain without getting her upset. "My birthday's in September. I'm already almost twelve. That makes me older than most of the others in my year, you know. If I went next year, I'd be doubly old, you see?"

"But…"

"I'm not staying."

"But you're _leaving!_" she shouted. "You're—you're—you _monster…_"

It was hard to take her insults seriously; stupidly, he laughed to himself.

"_IT'S NOT FUNNY!_" she shouted at the top of her lungs; he jumped back in surprise.

"Stop it!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD—"

Unable to control himself any longer, he shouted back, "IT'S NOT MY FAULT, OKAY? MERLIN, STOP _YELLING_ AT ME!"

"YOU'RE YELLING TOO!"

He tried another tactic. "Look, Maddie," he said roughly. "It's not my fault that…"

"IT'S AS GOOD AS!"

"Listen to me!" He waited momentarily for her to calm herself, then he said, "Look, it's not my fault that I'm eleven. You'll be going to Hogwarts, too," he said, trying to comfort her.

"Eight," she snapped. "I'm eight now. I have to wait still."

"Well, how do you think Ginny feels?" At that point, Maddie had made friends with Luna and Ginny, and they were almost as close as she and Cedric were. "All of her brothers but Ron are going, too."

"Those are brothers," she countered. "You're my _friend._"

He sighed. "I'll write letters to you," he tried, "will that make it better?"

She looked at him with bright, innocent eyes. It caught him off guard, but what she said next surprised him even more: "I love you, Ceddie."

He frowned, then said in a warning voice. "Maddie… You don't know what it means to love, Mad, you're only eight…" It suddenly reminded him of the time when Maddie had told everyone that she _had_ to be married.

"Well, I love you!" she said fiercely. "I love you! You're not just my best friend or my brother, I love you! I don't want you to leave me!"

"Look, Mad," he said, trying to reason with her. "You're only eight years old. What you're feeling isn't _true _love—it's like the way you love your parents or your grandparents. And I love you, too, just…not that way." He got down on one knee to get even with her; it almost looked like he was proposing to her. "I promise you, I'll still be your best friend even though I'm at school. You have to believe me on that. And one day, you'll be at Hogwarts, too. We might even be in the same house. And when you get your letter, you'll be going with me, you see? You won't be alone any more, I promise."

She furrowed her brow, looking at him in concentration. And suddenly, the eight-year-old Maddie Lewis threw her arms around Cedric's neck. In shock, he held her too, and they stood there like that in silence.

* * *

><p>And there was one more moment that truly defined their friendship before Maddie went to Hogwarts. When Cedric was fourteen and in his third year and Maddie was ten, just a year away from starting Hogwarts, he returned home for Easter break. Maddie had witnessed him sitting in a tree one day and she called up to him.<p>

He dropped down, looking at her. "Hello, Mad," he said casually. "You look nice today."

Ignoring him, she said, "Teach me how to do that."

He frowned. "It's dangerous."

"Well, I taught you to use accidental magic six years ago," she countered.

"That wasn't exactly _accidental,_" he said.

"Well, I figured out how to do it on accident," she said. "Come on. It's your turn to teach me something, isn't it?"

He sighed, caving in. Over the course of the next half hour, he taught her how to climb trees. She had just grasped the concept when she fell out of a branch, landing and hitting her head. _Hard._

Cedric gasped, jumping out of the tree next to her. "Mad—?" he asked hesitantly as she stood up shakily. "Maddie, are you okay…?"

She smiled at him, saying, "Never better. Mind if I have another go?"

Seeing where her knees were skinned below the dress she was wearing, he said, "I'd better take you home…" And he grabbed her hand, taking her back to her house.

When they got back, Maddie's mother was, once again, not very sympathetic. "Maddie Stefani Lewis!" she said out of frustration. "What have I been _telling you…_" She turned to Cedric, trying to smile at him, but it came out as more of a smirk. "I don't blame you, Cedric," she explained quickly. "I just think your mother would like to see you sometime." As he turned and walked out of the house, Katie pointed at the kitchen counter. "Up."

Maddie sat on the edge of the counter as her mother looked at her knees. "Ugh, that looks bad…" she said, looking through the cabinets. As a healer, she knew a lot about maladies and injuries. She found a small bottle labeled 'DITTANY', then brought it to her daughter and put some on the wounds, saying, "This may sting…"

It did sting, but Maddie said nothing. "Are you mad?"

"Yes, I am." She continued applying dittany to her daughter's wounds. "Hands," she said, and Maddie held out her hands as she put dittany on them as well. "Rub your hands together," she instructed, putting the cap back on and putting it back in the cabinet. "I'm disappointed in you, young lady."

"You're _always _disappointed in me," Maddie said, frowning. "What's the big deal? It was just…"

"Stupid, dangerous, irresponsible?" Katie said. "Just _what _were you doing?"

"Climbing a tree."

Katie was furious. "And _who_ taught you to climb trees?"

"A boy." Maddie was not going to say Cedric's name, no matter how obvious it undoubtedly was.

"_Which_ boy?"

"A boy!"

Her mother groaned. "I don't know what to do with you, Mad. I'm starting to think Cedric's a bad influence on you…"

Nervous and horrorstricken, Maddie said quickly, "Mum, I made him do it…don't blame him."

"I'll be having a word with Lucy," Katie said, ending the conversation there. Maddie was not tempted to stick around long, jumping off the counter and running to her room.

* * *

><p>Cedric received a letter towards the end of term from Maddie; all it said was, "I need glasses. I just know I'll look awful, I just know it. Don't laugh at me. Maddie."<p>

He bit his lip, wondering if it had anything to do with his tree climbing lesson. Pushing the thought out of his mind, he went back to his breakfast happily. It was June, almost the end of term. That meant that soon, he would be back home with Maddie again…and more importantly, soon she would be starting school, too. And he would finally be spending more time with her, which was just what he needed.

* * *

><p><strong>Eh, this update is kinda slow and long, I know, it's because I needed to lay the foundation for their friendship. Um. Yeah and stuff. Enjoy. Please review!<strong>

**- Hatter of Madness**


	3. June 1994

**June 1994**

Cedric turned the page in his book (_Quidditch Through the Ages_), thinking about how much his life had changed. It brought a hesitant smile to his face, looking up and seeing the picture of the four-year-old girl he had met almost nine years before, sitting on his bedside table. The thing was that the girl in the portrait was no longer four years old, and he was no longer very young, either.

Their years together had definitely changed them, if not for the better than for good. Maybe Maddie Lewis wasn't a little girl anymore, but she certainly wasn't getting much bigger, stuck forever at her short stature. She also wasn't the talkative girl (well, once you got past the quiet exterior) that she once was, and Cedric was definitely not as quiet and mellow as he used to be.

No, that wasn't completely true. Sure, he was mellow. But not quiet. In fact, it could have been said that he was one of the most popular students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was sure that his throng of friends (and another, broader group of admirers) would agree.

Maddie, on the other hand, was much quieter. She had a small group of friends that she got along with well, but was by no means 'popular'. In fact, it would surprise the both of them if anyone outside of Hufflepuff house, with the obvious exceptions of the Weasleys and Luna, knew her name. Well, maybe she was quiet, but Merlin, Cedric had to admit: She was wicked intelligent. She absorbed information like a sponge, always trying to learn more. Her intelligence matched even his, and he was three years ahead of her in school due to his September birthday. He only wished he could be as brainy as she was, always perplexed as to why she wasn't in Ravenclaw.

Cedric was intelligent, too, but _nothing _like the way that the blonde haired, green eyed girl could be. To her, school was simple, whilst Cedric usually had to work to obtain his good marks. He was Hufflepuff prefect, but he felt that the title belonged to his best friend, Joseph Dawson, who hardly ever had to work to understand a lesson. It amused him that both of his best friends were so intelligent and he was just…_Cedric._

Cedric was coming up on his seventeenth birthday; Maddie's birthday was approaching, too, and soon she would be thirteen. That was why it was hard for them to make their friendship work.

Only, in all honesty, it wasn't a _friend_ship anymore. No, to him, Maddie was so much more. She was his first girlfriend, and even after almost a year, they still were going strong. The only problem for them both was that it was a secret. Perhaps five people, counting them, knew. And keeping it a secret was no picnic, either. He knew he had to, though. There was no way that he was going to let it get out that he was dating a second year, when he himself was in his fifth. It was even worse when you took into account that there was not three, but _four_ years between them.

It wasn't his reputation that he was looking out for. In fact, if anything he was looking to protect _hers._ He knew that school kids were harsh, and he shuddered to think about what would happen if it got out that she was dating him. There was only one word that came to mind: Slut. The word burned his lips just thinking about it, so therefore, he thought about it as little as possible.

_Knock, knock._

It was his father. Cedric frowned. His father knew how secretive he was and therefore left him alone as often as possible. What could he want now?

He opened the door and found his father practically beaming at him. "What?" he asked, hoping his father would ignore the insensitivity in his tone. He didn't _mean _to sound angry; at times, it just slipped out when talking to him.

He did. "Your mother and I would like a word with you."

"Hold on." He went back to his bed where the book was laying open and stuck a bookmark in it, following his father down the stairs._ This had better be good,_ he thought as he reached the sitting area. His mother had hardly aged a day, looking as young and vivacious as she had when her son was young. The only indication that she was growing older was her crows feet at the corners of her eyes, which were only noticeable when she smiled. Other than that, she was a fountain of youth and did not have even a single wrinkle on her delicate face.

"What?" he repeated, seeing a similar smile on his mother's face.

"Oh," she said, smiling wider and her crows feet becoming more pronounced. "Well…" She turned to her husband. "Oh, just tell him, Amos."

"Tell me _what?_" Cedric was typically a patient person, but sometimes his father could test just how much patience he had. Another trait about himself that he hated most.

"In the kitchen," he said.

Cedric, turning on his heel and going to the dining area, found a thick envelope on the table with a single word on it: _Diggory._ Hoping that it wasn't another letter of recommendation from his father for him to work at the Ministry (not that he was old enough yet anyway, though hell if his father realized it), he picked it up, knowing this was what his parents were talking about. He slipped a finger carefully under the flap of the parchment…

And into his hand fell two additional pieces of blue parchment. He stared at them, perplexed, until realizing what the blue parchment signified when he saw the words 'August 22' on them. They were _tickets,_ he realized; tickets to the Quidditch World Cup.

He walked back out into the sitting room, looking at his father curiously. "Didn't I promise you when you were younger?" his dad said, beaming. "Didn't I say, 'Ced, one day I'll take you to a Quidditch match'?"

"So this is real, then?" he asked. It _would_ be like his father to get his hopes up, after all…

"Of course," he said. "Pulled a few strings at the Ministry for them. And Arthur and Braiden did the same. Xenophilius, too, I believe, though not with the Ministry, of course…" He trailed off, looking at his wife.

"Give it a rest," she muttered. It was not secret in the family that Amos had been trying to convince Xenophilius Lovegood for the longest time to get a 'practical job', in order to 'support Luna single handed'. But Cedric couldn't care less about Xenophilius Lovegood. His attention had been caught at the mention of 'Braiden'…Maddie's father.

She adored Quidditch, the same that he did. And August 22, that was the day before her thirteenth birthday. If he had the situation worked out right—and pray that he did—it was safe to assume that it was a birthday present from her parents. Which suddenly reminded him that she was approaching her birthday, and he had no idea what to do for her.

Again.

He had to do _something,_ he figured. After all, they had known each other for almost nine years, and he had never once given her anything for her birthday—well, that wasn't completely true; when she turned seven he gave her a flower he found by 'their' tree, but he didn't think that counted for much. But this year was _different, _simply on the pretext that they weren't kids anymore and they were more than just best friends. Or 'friends with benefits', since she was really too young to even consider it a real relationship, but he pushed that thought aside.

His parents went off into their own little world, ignoring the fact that they had a son. He took this as an opportunity to duck out of the room. Sure, he was grateful for the tickets to the Quidditch match, but he wasn't exactly completely endeared to his father. Maybe in his youth, yes. Older…not so much. Another thing he admired Maddie for: Her relationship with her father. They were almost polar opposites of each other, Cedric and Maddie were. Cedric's relationship with his father needed work; Maddie's was strong. Cedric could go to his mother with just about anything; it was a rare moment that Katie Lewis and her daughter saw eye to eye.

The thing was, he felt so _trapped _at home. He couldn't be open with his feelings, because certainly, his mother would understand—but she'd run off and tell his father, who wouldn't understand at all and would say that it was just 'being a teenager'. He was very close to his mother, but there were times where he wished he wasn't, just because his father would never understand him completely. And unfortunately, that meant he could tell neither parent about how he fancied the girl next door, who, like his mother, was a beacon of youth.

* * *

><p>Sometimes, when he was alone, he would think about the little things that Maddie did, and a smile would cross Cedric's handsome features. She was so…<em>pure.<em> That was the only way to describe the young girl: Pure. Because she was. She was so good and kind and was so selfless. That was the only way, he figured, that she was placed in Hufflepuff. These qualities must have outweighed her intelligence and thirst for knowledge.

It was amazing to think how far they had come from their youth, to think that when she was a child she refused to believe that she could ever marry Cedric because 'he was a boy'. But now… She was his first girlfriend, first kiss, and always his best friend. If it hadn't been for his other best friend, Joseph, however, he never would have taken the chance with her to give a relationship a try.

He was cautious in the relationship, though. He had to be careful not to do anything he would regret later. Moving too fast, perhaps; she certainly _was _young. Or not saying the right things. He had never been in a relationship before, after all. Everything about their relationship was a lot of trial and error.

Even admitting to her how much he fancied her was a bit of trial and error in itself. He had been completely nuts for her. Joseph was the first person to notice his odd behavior. He put two and two together almost instantly. Joseph was smart like that, which made it hard for Cedric to hide anything from his friend. One day, they were walking back to the Hufflepuff common room from the library, where Joseph had picked up a book on Transfiguration that he had desperately needed for McGonagall's class. Cedric had been lost in his thoughts when he saw _her _there, studying with her friends.

As soon as they were in the safety of the common room, Joseph gave him an order. "Alright. Spill. Who's the lucky lady?"

"What are you talking about?" Cedric asked, feeling like someone had just released Cornish Pixies in his stomach. Thinking about her seemed to have a dizzying effect on him, one that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

"You're completely lovesick," Joseph had said, smirking. "I can read you like a book, Cedric. Someone has your attention and you want her _bad._ So who is it?"

"No one," Cedric said quickly, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks, knowing fully well that it did not help the situation. He didn't even understand what he had felt for the girl; after all, she was _twelve_, far too young for him when he was already sixteen.

"No one, hmmm?" Joseph said. "Well, I beg to differ. Your eyes are dilated"—he wondered how Joseph had known and quickly hoped that they hadn't been like that when they had seen Maddie in the library—"you've suddenly started becoming more aware of your appearance, and you're always very…_fidgety._"

"I am not," Cedric said, but just the thought of Maddie made his skin crawl…in a good, pleasant sort of way. Suddenly, his fingers curled into a fist.

"Oh?" Joseph said, noticing. "Well. _I _have an idea who it might be, but since you refuse to say anything…"

His words came out after a sigh; they were rushed and slurred together. "Look, do you know how difficult it is to be completely falling for your best friend when you know full well that a relationship between the two of you is wrong for several reasons, yet you can't shake the feeling that you've finally found someone worth fighting for, and when you get around her you get completely tongue tied and just think that if things were different you might be able to make it work, but they _aren't_ different so they _can't_ work even though you want them to, but at the same time any relationship is impossible because she's too young for you but you fancy her more than anything and think that she's just so perfect and lovely and pretty much your _dream girl,_ and more than anything you want to talk to her but you're too thick to talk to her in a sentence that actually _makes sense_, even though you want her more than anything else in the world because you know that she's just so damn _perfect for you?_"

Joseph blinked in surprise and confusion. "You lost me at 'how'! Paraphrase, mate!"

It was difficult, but he forced himself to slow down dramatically and admit, "It's just so difficult for me. I have fallen for someone, okay? You were right. I fancy someone. More than anything in the world. But it's never going to work for us, because things are too complicated. She's young—_too _young—and yet she's everything that I've looked for in a possible partner. And I just want to be open with her. I want to come right out and say, 'look, I fancy you', but I get so tongue tied around her. You know how hard that is for me?"

"No," Joseph said, wishing he'd just admit that he had fallen for _her._ "But it sounds—painful."

"It is!" Cedric said, getting irritated not with his friend, but with himself. His hands flew to his neck, loosening his black and yellow tie. He sighed. "I don't mean to take it out on you, really. I just can't even _think straight_ around her."

"And who is this 'her'?" Joseph said, almost daring him to say it. That wasn't much of a stretch. Hadn't he been trying to weasel the information out of him throughout the duration of the conversation? In fact, how long had Joseph wanted to know?

"Izmahyee," he mumbled quickly, _bitterly._

"I beg your pardon?" It somehow sounded like he knew exactly what Cedric said.

There was a long, poignant pause. "It's—it's Maddie, okay?" Just saying the name gave him the feeling of Cornish Pixies in his stomach again. He hoped the feeling would pass. He wasn't sure how much more of it he could take—though the feeling wasn't downright _terrible. _It was a pleasant sort of feeling, honestly, even if unwelcome. "Maddie Lewis."

"I knew it," his friend said proudly. "You _do _fancy her."

"Y-you knew?"

"Of course I did, I'm not daft. You avoid looking her in the eyes when you're together, but apart, you can't keep your eyes off of her. And you get very..._fidgety _around her, like you can't keep your hands still. _And_ you want to just look like an absolute Adonis if you know we're going to see her, which isn't too hard for you, I should say…"

"Thanks?" he said.

"Look, all you have to say is, 'Mad, you're my best friend so I trust you enough to say that I fancy you', and see what happens from there. Easy as Polyjuice."

"_Please _don't speak potions to me," Cedric said. "And how is that supposed to be 'easy'? Nothing around her is _ever _easy anymore."

"So you can't just come out and say it?"

"Of course not!"

"Do you need _me _to do it for you?"

"I'm not _that _hopeless!"

"Aren't you?" the grin on Joseph's face practically screamed 'mischief'. "So then, when everyone clears out for dinner tonight, you're going to tell her, then?"

"Someone's getting ahead of themselves."

"Cedric, you're completely head over heels for this girl, aren't you?" Cedric had to nod. "And you want to know what she feels for you?" Again, he nodded. "So how are you supposed to know where the two of you stand if you can't even talk to the poor girl?"

"I…" That was a good question, he had to admit. Curse his friends' intelligence.

* * *

><p><em>Knock, knock, knock.<em>

"Cedric, the Weasleys are here!"

Cedric turned, angry. He had been…day dreaming, and his father knocked on his door and ruined everything. Why should it matter to _him _if the Weasleys decided to visit? It wasn't like they were never going to come over again. Still, he sighed and climbed off his bed, crossed the room, and went down to greet them on the landing.

"Merlin, you've gotten tall," Mrs. Weasley said when she saw him.

He forced a smile. "Good evening, Molly. How have you been?"

"Well, thank you." She turned to Lucy. "So polite. If only Fred and George were the same way…" She stopped, shook her head, and continued, "Now, this is concerning the World Cup…"

Cedric stifled a groan. _That _was what was so important that he had to leave he comfort of his room—and his thoughts? Still, he took a seat in the sitting area, listening half-heartedly to the adults drone on and on about the Cup, his thoughts still up in his bedroom—or, more correctly, next door.

"Well, how is Braiden and his family getting there?"

He was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts by his father's voice. Sad to say, _anything _about Maddie caught his attention those days._  
><em>

"He thought he was going alone," Mr. Weasley answered. "He was going to Apparate."

"I've told him that isn't safe," Cedric's mother said. "What if a Muggle saw? You know they work at the camp grounds this year—"

"So, what are they doing now?" his father asked.

"Well, since you and Cedric are coming with my gang this year—you _are _doing that, aren't you?" All eyes fell on Cedric.

"Er—I suppose so," he said, "yes."

"I suggested that he and his family could come, too." His heart started pounding in his chest, which suddenly gave him an idea for her birthday… "But it sounds that they're using the Floo network." His heart sank. Of course, they could meet up at the Cup, but he found himself longing for her attention and closeness. It brought a certain serenity about him, he noticed, one that he just couldn't seem to shake.

And he wasn't entirely sure if that was a feeling he liked or not.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi I'm back finally ^.^ So sorry it took me almost a year to update, but in that gap I've pretty much planned this story out to the end, so yay ^.^ Um reviews are appreciated. I also found that in planning this out so thoroughly, I can't put every detail of the story in my writing, so I started a Tumblr account just for those extra tidbits called fearless-lciheadcanon (if you have personal head canons about the story, which I actually find amusing - someone shared one with me on a Facebook page xD - you can submit them there if you'd like). And yeah :) Sooo hope you enjoy the direction this story is taking ^.^<strong>

**- Hatter of Madness**


	4. The Quidditch World Cup

"You're nuts, Dawson."

"Same to you, Thompson."

"There's _no way _that Ireland will win the match! Their players are _horrible._"

"Maybe so. But we've got Barry Ryan as Keeper, and he's a way better Keeper than Zograf."

Cedric rolled his eyes at his friends. Joseph Dawson and John Thompson were two of his roommates at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It just so happened that the three of them were going to the World Cup, and the two boys were very dedicated to their teams. As they wandered around the grounds for the match, they somehow got to talking about the various Quidditch teams. Cedric didn't voice aloud that he was supporting Bulgaria in the match; he didn't want to upset anyone, and besides, he was closer to Joseph, who supported Ireland. But it was hard to dislike Viktor Krum, the Seeker from Bulgaria.

"Yeah, yeah. But what about Krum?" Apparently, John thought the same thing about the Bulgarian Seeker. "He's damn better than Lynch by a long shot."

"Just because Lynch has the tendency to make crash landings..."

"You're _both_ crazy," Cedric said, trying to stop the argument. "Yeah, Bulgaria's Seeker is great, but Ireland works harder and does better on average. It's usually with a lot of luck that Bulgaria wins."

"So you're saying that Bulgaria got here on sheer dumb luck?" John asked, sounding deeply offended (Cedric was sure he was joking about this, however).

"Not saying that at all." How in the name of Merlin did he become mediator for such a petty argument? "What are you even arguing for, anyway?"

"It's in our nature, Ced," John answered.

"Our nature?" Cedric said back.

"As _manly men,_" John said, and the three started to laugh.

"Better not let your girlfriend hear you say that," Joseph teased John, giving Cedric a look as though to suggest it was to the both of them.

"Yeah, yeah, like she cares. Max likes anyone who likes Quidditch. I think she can put up with me bragging a little bit." John jabbed Cedric in the ribs. "How is it a good looking guy like you..."

"What about Max, John?" Joseph said. Cedric knew that this was his way of trying to change the subject, as it was on the down low that Cedric was in a relationship, and it was very easy to tell that that was where the conversation was going.

"We're all a little gay, Joey," John said, rolling his eyes. "I just so happen to manifest _my _gay in Cedric." The trio started to laugh yet again. "But anyway, unless you're playing for Ireland..."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Joseph asked, annoyed.

"Damn, can't I finish a sentence without being interrupted? It means he's playing for the wrong team, Dawson! Anyway, Ced, if you're so good looking, why don't you have a girlfriend yet? Unless you _do _play for the other team?"

Cedric shrugged, worried that his friend would know he was lying. "Just haven't found the right girl yet, I suppose."

"_I _can find you one, if you'd like," John said, and before Cedric could interrupt, his eyes fell on Maddie, Ginny, and Luna. They, too, were wandering around before the match, as all three were attending. Before Cedric had time to think, John called out, "OI! WOULD ANY OF YOU THREE WANT TO GET ON CEDRIC'S JOCK?!"

"_John,_" Cedric chastised quietly, as the three girls began to laugh, along with other witnesses. He tried to avoid blushing. "Please. I'm perfectly capable of..."

"Just tell me," John said, indicating to the three of them. "Are you more interested in blondes or redheads?"

_Blondes. _"I can't believe..."

"It's a perfectly legitimate question, Ced!"

"Oh, they're too young," Joseph said, trying to divert John's attention. If they stood talking around Maddie much longer, the truth would be that much more difficult to conceal. Cedric shot his friend a thankful look; Joseph nodded in return.

"Hey, Joey, you're single, too," John said, rolling his sleeves up. "You know, _I _can fix that..."

"No thanks. I think I can find someone outside of my age bracket on my own."

"Suit yourself, but there was nothing wrong with those three. Except, you know, Weasley's a Gryffindor and because of people like her, we can't win in Quidditch. The one blonde one, the one with the blue eyes, she's just...don't even get me _started. _And where do I even begin with Lewis?"

"Take that back," Cedric shot.

"Sorry, Ced. I know you're friends with her, but it had to be said."

"What is so wrong with her, exactly?" He wasn't really sure he wanted to know.

"Well, to start. Let's say, hypothetically here of course, you _were _dating." _Sure, _Cedric thought. _Hypothetically. _"Where would her glasses go when you kissed? Wouldn't that, like, be a turn off?" Joseph chuckled to himself; Cedric was sure it was just because of the wording of the question, not so much the actual question itself. "And second, she's got this stigma, you see."

"Congratulations on knowing the word 'stigma'," Cedric said. "But what do you mean by that?"

"She's, like, the brightest person in her year! You don't want someone that's too smart, it ruins all the fun. And you can find someone who's a damn sight prettier than her, too, even at Hogwarts."

"She is..." Before he could finish, a booming gong cut him off.

"What was that?" John asked.

"It's time for the match," Cedric told him, as he could see his father walking up to him briskly.

"The match is about to start, Ced," his father told him, repeating what Cedric had already said. "Hello, John. Joseph. Nice seeing you here."

John mumbled something unintelligible in reply; Cedric didn't think that his friends were too fond of his father, and at times, he didn't blame them. Joseph, however, put on his best smile and greeted, "Hello, sir. Been having a good summer?"

"Could be better," he said. John took off in search of his parents without a word. "Kind of a dark fellow, isn't he?" he asked Cedric.

"Never mind," came the response. "See you around, Joseph."

As they took off towards the pitch, Cedric nearly turned scarlet when his father asked, "What was that earlier about someone being, er...'on your jock'?"

"It's nothing," Cedric said in hopes of dropping the subject, but, knowing his father didn't accept this as an answer, clarified, "John was trying to find me a girlfriend, that's all." He hoped this would be satisfactory, but knowing his father, it wouldn't be.

His suspicions were confirmed when his father said, "Well...you _are _almost seventeen. I would think by now there'd be _someone..._"

"No, no one." A knot formed in his throat. Why couldn't he just come clean about it? He had been seeing Maddie now for over nine months already. The only person that knew about it for sure, besides the two of them, was Joseph, seeing as he had helped to set them up together. "I'm just not interested in the moment, okay? There's...more important things." As honest as he was, lying made him uncomfortable, especially to his parents. He had surely lied to his mother about it, too?

"Well, come December you're going to want some company." He suddenly acted as though he had said too much.

Cedric frowned. "Why is that?"

"Oh, you know... Because spring will be here soon and, oh, look at the time..."

Why was it that he could lie to his father like nothing when it came to his relationship, but when it came time for his father to lie to _him,_ he did a pitiful job? Maybe he did feel guilty about it, but Cedric at least could save face when he wasn't being truthful. "What do you mean, 'come December'?"

"Oh, nothing. Just Ministry business." As his father seemed more at ease saying that, Cedric suspected that this was the truth, or at the very least, part of it. But if it had to do with the Ministry, why would it concern him in the least?

"National teams bring creatures from their native lands, to, you know, put on a bit of a show," came Arthur Weasley's voice as they approached their seats. Much to Cedric's surprise, the box was very nearly full. There were the eight Weasleys—Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny—Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Braiden, Katie, and Maddie Lewis.

Thankful for some alone time at last (it'd been about a month since they'd been able to have any), Cedric sat next to Maddie, taking her small hand in his and squeezing it gently. "Hey," he said quietly as the others in the box talked among themselves. "How've you been?"

"Fine. But apparently, I'm _on your jock._"

She smiled to herself as he tried his best not to blush. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to kill him, and you'd better not stop me."

They were especially thankful when the Minister of Magic came in, as all attention was diverted to him and away from them. Inconspicuously they inched closer and closer still, until Maddie was very nearly in Cedric's lap. In all honesty, they should have been excited to see Fudge—despite their fathers' work, neither of them had met the man. But they were too smitten with one another to even turn their heads in his direction, and as Cedric's words were getting quieter and quieter, they were forced to separate in fear and surprise when they heard, "Minister, I don't believe you've met my son?"

_Curse my father,_ Cedric thought to himself as he quickly turned away from the young girl next to him and to the Minister, extending his hand as his father introduced him. "This is my son, Cedric. A sixth year at Hogwarts, and a _prefect, _no less!"

"How do you do," Cedric said politely.

"Very well, very well," Fudge said, smiling cordially at Cedric. The look in his eyes said it plainly. _I saw._

Cedric's heartbeat started to quicken, especially when he heard the next words of the conversation: "And this is my daughter," Braiden said, indicating to the blonde girl. "Yes—Maddie, this is Cornelius Fudge. Mr. Fudge...my daughter."

"Pleasure, pleasure," Fudge said, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Pleased to meet you," she said.

"They're both so very polite," Fudge said.

It was as though Amos's eyes had just registered Maddie's presence. "My!" he said in surprise. "Someone's grown up, haven't they? How have you been, sweetheart?"

Cedric cringed at his father's use of the term, but Maddie smiled politely—the same way she always did when being addressed by an adult—and dutifully replied, "I've been well, and yourself?"

"_Wonderful!_ Everything is absolutely wonderful!" He turned to Braiden. "Well, the Minister is certainly right. Your girl is _definitely _polite. But Cedric here..." And he began an extensive tirade of a list of Cedric's achievements. Both teens hid their sighs of relief as the subject of conversation changed. Cedric especially was thankful, as the topic of their discussion was no longer themselves, and it was never brought up again.

As the match continued on, everyone was too absorbed in the Quidditch game to notice that the two of them had split their attention between the match and the other person. Perhaps they were polite to the rest of the world, but to each other, all they did was tease.

Maddie gently punched Cedric in the arm. "You can quit drooling over those Veelas now, _Diggory_," she said.

"So long as _you _do the same for Krum, _Lewis._"

They talked and giggled like school children for the duration of the match, thankful for once that attention was diverted away from them for just a little bit. They felt at peace with the world, but Cedric was fighting an internal battle with himself. He cared about her, he really did. But no matter what, he just couldn't bring himself to admit to the world that they were seeing each other. He would have been mortified trying to admit _that_ to his parents ("Yes, even though I'm four years older than she is, I've been snogging Maddie Lewis now for nine months...").

But the guilt ate away at him, every time he had to lie and say, "No, I'm not seeing anyone." Because the truth was that he _was _seeing someone. A beautiful someone, who had been his best friend for nine years and was the most amazing girl he knew. Did he imagine the look of hurt in her eyes when he pulled away from her to talk to the Minister, or was it real? The thing that hurt him the most was seeing that he had hurt someone else, and this was especially so when he hurt _the _someone.

He didn't know how much longer they'd be able to hide their masquerade.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay sorry I haven't updated this story in two months (exactly two months omg). I've been having my ass kicked by advanced placement classes. Like, for instance, I should be doing a reading log for history right now seeing as it's due tomorrow and I'm not even half done and it's already eight o'clock at night, but I like doing this more ^.^ Um yeah I'm so excited to get to the next chapter because they'll FINALLY BE AT HOGWARTS YAY. And we all know what <em>that <em>means (well at least for Cedric since Maddie is a figment of my imagination and unfortunately they are not canon). I'm hoping I can get to updating this more often, so fingers crossed. Please review, because it means a lot to me?**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	5. Hogwarts

"Welcome, to another year at Hogwarts!"

The start of term feast had just ended and the sorting had taken place. The Hufflepuff house seemed to have acquired first years with plenty of potential to be great witches and wizards; though she sincerely doubted it, Maddie hoped that, perhaps, they would win the house cup at the end of the school year. And even if they didn't get that, perhaps that would be the year that they won the Quidditch cup?

All conversation ceased as Dumbledore's booming voice flooded the Great Hall. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year."

Immediately, Amber Wright—one of her best friends and a girl that she lived with in her dormitory—started to smile a beaming smile, as they were all now third years and each had signed their permission form for them to finish the village. Of course, Amber would want to go to Zonko's, seeing as every year she came laden with sweets, and it was likely that their other roommates—Sierra Viers, Eloise "Boo" Ross (her cousin was Liam, one of Cedric's friends), and Allison Doherty—would probably want the same.

On the other hand, Cedric had promised when Maddie was younger that on her first Hogsmeade trip, he would spend the entire day with her, showing her around the village. She looked forward to it with anticipation; after all, they could use some much needed quality time with one another, as they hadn't properly seen one another since the Quidditch World Cup. She started to toy with the locket around her neck (a birthday present from Cedric) as she thought of it.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

The Great Hall was suddenly filled with noise, including much shouting from students who were members of their respective Quidditch teams. Looking around the Hall, the Slytherin captain was heckling Dumbledore loudly with two of his Chasers; at the Gryffindor table, Fred and George Weasley were screaming in unison, "THAT'S RUBBISH!"; the Ravenclaws were discussing it heatedly, some acting as though Dumbledore had announced that somebody died; and at the Hufflepuff table itself, Cedric looked quite astonished, almost too shocked to believe it. He had played Seeker for a few years on their House team (and for that reason, Braiden Lewis had considered Cedric his own son), and was captain the year before. His friend, Eleanor Anders, was looking just about as dismayed as he did; she was the Keeper for the Hufflepuff house team.

Well, one thing was for certain: They were definitely not winning the Quidditch Cup that year.

Regaining attention, Dumbledore announced, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure to announce that this year at Hogwarts—"

Dumbledore's speech was cut short with the deafening roar of thunder in the distance as the doors to the Great Hall swung open. A man that no one had ever seen before stood in the doorway, and as he came clunking into the room, they all got a better look at him. His face was scarred (almost the entire surface), and a large portion of his nose seemed to be absent. But the most astonishing thing about him were his eyes—or, rather, just one of them.

This was because one of his eyes looked like any ordinary person's. It was small and dark and looked positively normal, if a bit beady. But the other was large and round, and was an electric blue. There was no possible way that it was real. It moved independently; the other eye did not follow it. It did not blink.

Dumbledore seemed to know this man, as when they met, they shook hands with one another. "May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody," Dumbledore announced as the man speared a sausage onto a knife that he pulled out of his robes and started to eat. Dumbledore took a moment as the students were transfixed on Moody to clear his throat, thus gaining back their attention.

"As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

_Triwizard Tournament? _Where had Maddie heard that before? The name sounded so familiar, yet she just could not place where she had heard it before.

"You're JOKING!" called Fred Weasley from the Gryffindor table; obviously, she was not the only one who had heard the name _somewhere..._

As nearly everyone broke into laughter (with certain exceptions, namely Maddie, who was still in thought), Dumbledore continued, "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley, though, now you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar..."

Professor McGonagall, the Gryffindor head of house, cleared her throat quite loudly; even from where she sat amid the sea of Hufflepuffs, Maddie could hear it quite clearly.

"Er—but maybe this is not the time...no... Where was I? Ah, yes. The Triwizard Tournament."

Suddenly, Maddie realized exactly where she had heard that name: _Hogwarts, A History. _Cedric had always joked that she could quote the text inside and out, so she subconsciously beat herself up over not realizing it sooner. She recalled that the tournament was some ghastly thing that had occurred centuries before with students from three wizarding schools. Each school chose one student—who thence earned the title _champion_—who would compete in a series of three extremely dangerous tasks. Several students had died in it, so why on _earth _would they reinstate it?

Dumbledore quickly explained what she already knew, stating that the champions came from the schools of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang, which took place at a different school every five years. She noticed grimly that he ended on the note, "...until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the Tournament was discontinued."

Eagerly, her friends Allison and Sierra chatted about how this seemed like an amazing event to witness (which she could partly excuse on behalf of Sierra, who was Muggleborn), but Maddie was still fretting over it—especially when she looked down the long Hufflepuff table and saw that Cedric seemed just as eager as most of the school did.

She barely heard when Dumbledore announced, "However, our own Department of Magical Co-operation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that, this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger. The Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students of age—that is to say, seventeen years or older—will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This—"

Dumbledore was cut off by loud sounds of protest from the entirety of the school. Maddie honestly didn't care about the age restrictions whatsoever. Looking down the table once again, Cedric seemed more and more eager by the second; although typically very polite when teachers were talking (and even when they weren't, for that matter), he was chatting with his friends with a huge smile on his face. She couldn't understand why, though; Cedric was still sixteen. Subconsciously, her hand went up to the locket around her neck, and she toyed with it in concern.

"You seem excited," Amber hissed, trying hard not to laugh too loudly.

Maddie turned to her. "Really? I would say that I am not excited in the least."

"Oh?" She had a cocky grin on her face. "Well, I don't mean to say about the Tournament, of course."

"Then what _do _you mean?"

"I mean, you _obviously _fancy someone." This was something that Amber had not given up on since their second day of their first term. Every time Maddie was the least bit out of touch with whatever was going on around her, Amber speculated that she just had to fancy someone.

"Are we doing this again?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Well, if you don't, then who got you _that_ thing around your neck?"_  
><em>

"A friend." She was not in the mood to continue the conversation further, though she was a much better liar than Cedric was. A telltale sign of his lying was when he bit his lip, which he did quite often when attempting to tell a lie. It was a wonder that no one had ever caught him in the act before.

Suddenly, realization dawned on her and it took quite an effort not to gasp. Of course, Cedric was too young at the moment to enter, but Dumbledore said that the other schools would be arriving in October...at which point, Cedric would be of age. In fact, in just a week he would be seventeen.

She shook her head 'no' in frustration, then Dumbledore announced, "I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your wholehearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning."

As the students started out of the Hall—except for the prefects (Cedric included), who lingered behind to lead the first years to their dormitories—Maddie was forced out of her thoughts and followed her friends to the third year girls' dormitory. They were already chatting away about the new school year and such—and Allison decided that since they were all officially thirteen (she cast a look at Maddie when she said this, who was the youngest of the five), it would have been a good idea to discuss people.

Boys, to be specific.

Once they reached the safety of their dorm room, they immediately took to talking about how Amber obsessively fancied a certain Weasley—specifically, _Ronald_ Weasley—and both Allison and Boo commented that Cedric was very handsome.

Maddie cringed, though she barely paid attention. If they had only known... But she was sworn to secrecy.

"You know," Amber said, looking directly at the blonde, "you're not that unpleasant."

"Gee, thanks," Maddie said back sarcastically.

"No, no! I _mean_, we could probably get you together with someone if you just did something with your hair."

Feeling suddenly self conscious, her hands flew up to her blonde curls. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"Well, your fringe for one thing. You can never see your face, and you're not exactly a troll, you know..." Maddie was liking this conversation less and less by the second. "And your hair is always just down. You never do anything with it."

The other girls started to throw in their own input, but not all of it was worded as nicely as Amber had said—_if _that was nice.

"This is ridiculous," she announced once Allison said that she would look better without glasses. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. Dumbledore's right—we have class in the morning." She pulled the curtains tight around her bed, trying not to succumb to her emotions. Weren't they supposed to be her friends?

For a wild moment, she considered going to Cedric that next morning and demanding that they just go public, or at the very least tell their friends. But she knew all he wanted was to protect her reputation. That was the good thing about him; he cared so much.

But one thing was for certain: she was definitely going to ask if he would not decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament.

* * *

><p>After escorting the first years to the common room and teaching them how to safely enter it, then showing the boys to their dormitories, Cedric finally made his own way to bed. Unfortunately, his dorm mates had other plans.<p>

When the door opened, the first thing he heard was loud bursts of laughter from two of his friends, who were best mates—Liam and Edward. "You've _got _to be joking," Edward said as Cedric shut the door, barely glancing up at the noise.

Liam, on the other hand, started to laugh. "Look who's decided to join us!" he said, running over with a bed sheet in his hands, throwing it over Cedric's shoulders. "_The prefect!_"

He shrugged it off and made it to his bed, feeling far more exhausted than he had ever felt before. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered, looking through his trunk for his pajamas.

"Is the important prefect too busy to join his mates for a conversation?" Edward asked.

"Depends," Cedric said, shrugging. "What about?" He glanced up as Liam quite literally jumped across the room onto Cedric's bed. Cedric grimaced when he did so.

"Oh, you know, Professor Snape's new robes—what do you _think_, Ced?" Liam asked, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. "We're talking about the lack of cute girls in this school!"

Cedric could not help but notice that the 'we' in question did not include Joseph, who was sitting on his bed, absorbed in a book. Suddenly, though, he looked up and said, "I disagree."

"Oh?" Liam said, suddenly sitting up straighter.

"JOEY'S GOT A CRUSH!" Edward screamed. "Well done, mate! We were starting to think you were—"

"Shut up," Joseph mumbled into his book.

Cedric, suddenly interested, looked up. "I'm offended," he said. "You didn't even tell your best mate about this?"

Joseph shot Cedric a knowing look—he was the sole friend who knew that Cedric himself was in a relationship. "No," he said, turning a page without looking at his book. "I didn't. Because she's not..."

"There _is _someone, then?" John asked, who had been absolutely silent throughout this conversation, though he was a bit more quiet than his friends were. He did, however, pay attention with interest.

"Yeah, and we all know who she is," Joseph said, then looked at Cedric again and said, "Some more than others..."

"Okay, give me a minute while I think of all the girls Cedric knows in the school..." Liam said. "Oh wait—that's _all_ of them!"

Joseph rolled his eyes. "Here's a hint. Think 'sports'."

In unison, Joseph's four friends said, "_Eleanor Anders?_"

"Well, that took all of one second," Joseph said. "And it's not even that I fancy her, either. She's just..."

"Okay, great, two nerds in love," John teased. Joseph sighed, exasperated. "Anyway, we've sorted out that you're on the right team. Now..." He looked at his other three friends. "You three. Talk."

It was a wonder to Cedric that they were already in their sixth year and didn't even know this information about one another. No matter what, he was not going to say anything. The truth was, his relationship with Maddie was something he valued so much that it was like his sweet secret.

"Oh, dammit, I'll say it," Liam said. "There's a girl in our house that may or may not be a little bit younger than us."

"Define 'a little bit'?" Edward asked.

"Oh, you know, like one or two...maybe three years."

"What the shit, man!" Edward said, suddenly very interested. Cedric, too, was interested, given his own girlfriend's age. "You're like...what the..."

"Who is it, then?" John asked, eagerly.

He sighed. "Amber Wright."

"Wait," Joseph said, his attention piqued again. "Isn't she the one with the long, curly brown hair?"

"And the bright green eyes, yeah," Liam said, shrugging. "What's your point?" One thing Cedric and Liam seemed to have in common was a shared interest with girls with green eyes.

"No point, just asking." He immediately went back to the book.

"Oi!" John said, taking his wand out of his robes. "Oh, no you don't! _Accio book_!" Joseph's book shot out of his hands and into John's. Seeing the peeved look on his friend's face, he said, "Fine, I'll mark your place, don't get your knickers in a twist." He folded back the corner of the page, much to Joseph's dismay, who did not say a word in response. He seemed to be liking the group even less ever since he had admitted his feelings for Eleanor Anders.

"Okay, so we've figured out that Joey's not on the wrong team," Edward said, counting on his fingers, "and that Liam is a pervert"—this worried Cedric slightly, whose age difference with Maddie was even bigger than theirs—"so that just leaves you"—he pointed at John—"and the prefect."

"And you!" John said.

"Nope. I'm taken, we all know that."

"By _Celestina Warbeck!_"

"It'll work, I swear!" The boys laughed, even Cedric, who knew there was no hope for Edward and his 'girlfriend'. "So, prefect." Edward was looking directly at Cedric, who raised a brow in response. "Don't take this the wrong way—but man, you're the fittest one of the lot of us."

"And you thought _I _was gay," Joseph muttered, shaking his head.

"Shut up, Joey. Anyway, every girl in the school practically drools at the sight of you—and yet, you're single. How? Are you asexual?"

"E-excuse me?" Cedric stammered, suddenly feeling his heart rate increase. _This _was not going to be good.

"I mean, you never even so much as look at a girl—or a bloke, either, for that matter. So the only explanation is that you're just asexual."

"I don't know," Liam said, thinking. "I mean, I spend a lot of time looking at Amber"—someone muttered something that sounded like 'obviously'—"and she's friends with _your _third year friend—what's her name again, Maggie?"

"N-no," Cedric stuttered, hoping nobody noticed. "It's 'Maddie', as in, with a 'd'." Joseph was giving him a knowing look, which he ignored.

"Yeah, yeah, _her. _I see the way that she looks at you, even if her friends don't," John said. This was not going well.

"And your point is?" Cedric asked.

"I'm just saying. You two have known each other for a long time, longer than you've known any of us in this room, even. I'm just saying, it's kind of odd for someone your age to be friends with someone _her _age. Aren't you turning seventeen next week?"

"I still don't see your point," Cedric said, though he nodded.

"Well, maybe I'm looking too far into it, but it seems like sometimes you look at her—in _that _way." The other boys were suddenly silent, all looking at Cedric, as though contemplating the validity of the statement.

"No," Cedric said firmly, biting his lip as he did. "We're friends, and we have been for a long time. You _are_ looking too far into it."

John looked as though he did not believe him, but he finally said, "Alright, then." And with that, the conversation died down a bit. When the others decided to go to bed, he heaved a sigh of relief. He was not really ready for it to get out just yet. His relationship was his sweet secret, but one that made him so unbelievably..._happy. _Maddie Lewis was the girl of his dreams, but he only got to hold her in secret. And somehow, that was just the way he liked it.

As he got into bed, he thought back to Dumbledore's announcement in the Great Hall earlier that same evening. If he had interpreted him correctly—and he was fairly certain that he had—the champions were not to be selected until October, at which point he would be seventeen. The odds that, if he put his name in, he would be chosen were so slim that it couldn't _hurt _to just try. He was going to enter the Tournament.

He had to be someone she would have been proud of.

* * *

><p><strong>I. Really. Am. Sorry. For. Never. Updating. This. x_x Okay so anyway, that ending made me want to cry a little. I didn't, so we're clear. But I wanted to. Anyway, some of you are probably going to hate me for the direction that this is going to go in. I'm not going to delve into what that is...yet. You'll see when I get around to posting it. I'm hoping that since my finals are coming up soon, I'll be able to post more often, but we'll see. Please review and stuff. Yeah.<strong><br>****

**- Hatter of Madness**


	6. Arrival of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons

After a restless night, Maddie woke up the following morning feeling as though she had run a mile in her sleep, she was so sleep deprived. Her dorm mates, however, seemed to have a quite restful night, though Amber groaned in protest when Sierra told her it was time to go to breakfast.

"Suit yourself, then," she said, "I suppose you won't get to have anything to eat this morning, or find out what your classes are, or see _Ronald Weasley…_"

Suddenly, Amber shot up like a bullet, grabbing some clothes out of her trunk.

The third year students were allowed to take elective classes now, and the five girls were eager to see what their schedules would be like. Sierra, being Muggleborn, had just picked two classes (the minimum for all students) at random, whereas some of the others had a harder time deciding what they wanted to take because there was simply too many to choose from. Amber had chosen Divination, upon hearing that it was a 'soft subject', but found with regret that none of her roommates had.

"Because Liam has told me that that subject is dotty!" Boo said, whose cousin was the sixth year Liam Wilson. "He said that he plans on dropping it this year, because of the N.E.W.T. classes and such. They would be _reading their teacups_, Amber!"

As they started to leave the common room together, Maddie froze upon seeing Cedric with John and Edward. They didn't seem to be talking about anything too important, though it was hard to tell from a distance. "I'll catch up with you in a moment," she said to Amber, who frowned.

"Why?"

"I've got…something I have to do. I'll see you at breakfast."

Amber looked skeptical but continued with the rest of their friends out of the common room as Maddie approached Cedric. "May I have a word with you?" she asked politely.

Slightly taken aback, Cedric said, "Sure," and followed her, ignoring John and Edward's looks of protest. "What is it?" he asked once they were secluded from the rest of the common room, out of earshot from everyone else. He honestly had no idea what was to come next.

"Well…you heard Dumbledore last night," she said bluntly, diving right into it. He nodded in agreement. "About the Triwizard Tournament?"

The tight frown that he wore loosened slightly at the question. "What about it?"

Her voice shook slightly as she continued, "You wanted to enter it, didn't you? You're the only one of your friends who's old enough to do it. I saw the look on your face."

"Well…yeah, I suppose I do." He shrugged. "Why? What about it?" he said again.

She sighed. "It's just…well, you know what Dumbledore said. That people have _died _in this tournament? I did some research on it last night before I went to bed, in _Hogwarts, A History_, and it wasn't just the champions that have been hurt in it. In the last tournament, all three Heads of the schools—Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons—were injured by a cockatrice that the champions had to capture. If it's dangerous enough to hurt the _judges…_" She trailed off, as though to see if she had his attention. He nodded the affirmative at her.

"Go on."

"I just would sleep easier at night if I didn't have to worry about you."

There was a poignant silence that followed, then Cedric finally asked, "Are you asking me…"

"Not to enter?" she finished, then he nodded. "Well…I just don't want to…"

She was interrupted by Edward's loud calls of, "Come on, Ced!" He glanced over at his friends, who were watching impatiently, and took half a step away from her. She knew exactly what that step was for: so his friends wouldn't think anything was out of the ordinary with them. He sighed, regaining his focus. He looked at Maddie, who looked so scared and innocent that it was hard to resist her pleas. But he was so determined to do this… Besides, what were the odds that _he _would be chosen?

"You're asking me not to do it." It was not a question, but a statement. "And…" He paused, trying to figure out how he should word it. "I respect that." He had to practically choke the words out, as though he were saying some sort of dark hex. "I really do."

"So you're saying…"

"If it will help you…I won't do it."

The look of concern faded from her face so quickly that it almost brought a smile to Cedric's face. "Thank you," she said breathlessly, a smile forming on her face. "I'm sorry for asking you that, but…"

"You're nervous," he said, "I get it. Go on. Go join your friends."

She turned without another word and left the common room, her mind much more at ease than before the conversation, though Cedric's was a jumbled mess. Didn't she understand that this was something that could be good for the both of them? If he was chosen—despite the unlikelihood of that _ever _happening—not only would he be looked at as a great wizard, but he could finally be on the same page as her. The truth was, he had always thought that she was too _good _for him. She was too intelligent and thoughtful and caring. It was almost as though she was too _Hufflepuff _for him, since she had all of the attributes that the house was looking for and then some.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he walked back to his friends. "Got yourself a little girlfriend, have you, Ced?" Edward teased.

Suddenly very nervous, Cedric said, "She's just a friend," unintentionally nibbling on his lip as he did so. "Come on, let's go."

They walked to the Great Hall, all the while talking about what sorts of classes they planned on dropping now that they had the chance to. "I am _done _with Care of Magical Creatures," John said. "It all went downhill when Hagrid became Professor. There's nothing wrong with him, but last year he was so afraid of being sacked that he never taught us a bloody thing!"

"Why did you even take that class, anyway?" Cedric asked, remembering the heat he had endured from his father when he opted not to enroll in it for his third year; Amos Diggory worked at the Ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

"Thought I wanted to be a magizoologist," John said. "Not so sure anymore. I think it was the thestrals that did it to me. But last year, when we were given career advice, I told Professor Sprout that I wanted to be a _Caretaker!_" When Edward and Cedric broke out laughing, he went very red faced and said, "Like I fancy _Filch's_ job! What was I _thinking…_"

"Did you _really _tell her that?" Edward asked, scarcely able to believe it.

"What do you think? I would have had better luck telling her I aimed to be the Minister!"

"Why did you say that?" Cedric asked, still snickering next to Edward, who was almost crying.

"I honestly have no idea. And what did _you _tell her, Mr. Prefect?"

He shrugged, then offhandedly said, "An Auror."

"Well, of course you did, that's the go to answer. _Everyone _says they want to be an Auror. But the difference is you might actually make it there."

"What did your friend want—what was her name again?" Edward asked.

Cedric sighed. "Her name is Maddie, Edward, I've told you this before. Weren't we just talking about her last night?"

"I didn't ask her name then," Edward said back.

"No, but Liam did," John said back. "And what does it matter what she said, anyway? It doesn't concern us if…"

"She asked me not to enter the Triwizard Tournament," Cedric said as he sat down, ready to finish the conversation. "Have either of you seen Joseph or Liam? I wanted to talk to them about…"

"What do you mean, _she asked you not to enter?_" Edward said, sounding hysterical and sitting next to Cedric. "She can't do that! She's not your mother! You're the only one of us who's old enough to enter, anyway, and…"

"Liam is just barely too young, too," John said sadly. "He'll be seventeen on November the eighth."

"Not my point," Edward said, looking very cross at John for interrupting him. "Look, your friend Addie—"

"Maddie," Cedric corrected.

"—doesn't control you, does she?" Before Cedric had an opportunity to answer, he said, "Why don't you just go up to Mandy—"

"Maddie."

"—and tell her, 'Listen, Maggie…'"

"_Maddie._"

"'…I get that you're concerned, but to hell with it, I'm going to enter anyway.' I mean, they're cancelling Quidditch this year anyway! Mindy would understand that, wouldn't she?"

"Hell, Edward," John finally said. "You're annoying _me._ Cedric's said enough that her name is Maddie. But I have to say that I agree, Ced. Do you have to listen to everything she says?"

How was he supposed to respond to that? Of course he didn't _have _to listen to everything she said. Edward was right in saying that she wasn't his mother. In fact, they weren't related at all. But still, she did mean a great deal to him, and after all, she was his _girlfriend._ He had to listen to her at least _some _of the time, didn't he?

But he couldn't tell Edward and John that, so he resigned to saying, "Not everything, no…but I promised her that I wouldn't put my name forward, so…"

"YOU DID WHAT?" Edward shouted, so that several students looked their way, but at that point, the owls were arriving with the morning post. Several feathery creatures (some looking about as ruffled as feather dusters with wings) started to swoop down and drop off parcels, letters, various things that students forgot.

Cedric was surprised when his father's owl, Leo, flew by, dropped a parchment envelope in his lap, and fluttered off again.

"I thought that stupid thing died," John said, staring at Leo as he flew away. One of his wings was considerably shorter than the other, and his beak was bent in a funny way.

"I wish," Cedric said, picking up the letter from his lap and opening it.

_Ced,_

_I suppose by now, Dumbledore's told you the news about the Triwizard Tournament. It's been so long since a Tournament has been held and I must say that all of us at the Ministry are positively shaking with excitement. Of course, there are a few exceptions to this, namely Jupiter Othello, but she's still recovering from the Quidditch World Cup with the rest of her remaining limbs anyway._

_Your mother and I were writing to see if you were going to enter your name in the Goblet of Fire. We don't want you to feel any pressure to, but if you were selected as the Hogwarts champion, we'd be so proud. Not that we aren't already of course!_

_Remember to behave yourself this school year and make sure that you stay dedicated to your work. Your mother sends her love._

_Dad_

He grimaced, setting aside the note. Immediately, Edward picked it up and scanned its contents, then beamed at Cedric. "I _told_ you that you should do it," he said.

"Shove off," he said, going to his breakfast.

Suddenly, Joseph and Liam joined them at the table, both looking extremely out of breath. "What took you two so long?" Edward asked, staring at them with a mixed look of contempt and confusion.

"Well…" Joseph rasped, "I was getting dressed and then Liam dropped some Instant Darkness Powder, and as he was fumbling around in the dark, he knocked over your copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters _and it started to chase us around the room."

Cedric and Edward seemed to find this funny, but John said, "Hey, Edward, I thought you weren't going to take Care of Magical Creatures this year, so what do you have that bloody book for?"

Edward immediately was silenced.

Professor Sprout was busy moving up and down the table, working with students on what classes they were and were not going to take and passing out course schedules. She got to Edward first, clearing him for Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration. He was even cleared to take History of Magic and Arithmancy, and Cedric and Liam gave him heat over it, since he was no brilliant scholar when it came to Arithmancy and History of Magic was not a favored class.

"It's nap time," he told them quietly when Professor Sprout got to Cedric.

"You're going to have quite the course load this year, Mr. Diggory," she told him. "I believe you wanted to be an Auror?"

"Yes," he said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Then I look forward to seeing you in Herbology. Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms… Yes, you're all good."

Soon, the five of them had their course schedules figured out. Joseph, Cedric, and Edward all had Potions together first that morning; Liam had to go to Study of Ancient Runes; and John had gotten roped into taking Care of Magical Creatures again. Thinking of his father's note, Cedric wished him luck with the rest of his remaining limbs before he and his friends went off to Snape's class.

Outside of the dungeon, they met Eleanor Anders, and Cedric couldn't help but notice that Joseph's hands immediately flew to his neck, straightening his tie. Before any of them could get a word in, Eleanor snapped, "Can you believe it? _They're cancelling Quidditch for a stupid tournament!_"

"Nice to see you, too, Eleanor," Cedric said.

"It's just…I can't believe this. Only about a hundred students in the school, _if _that, are going to be eligible. What's the point if they haven't got enough eligibility?"

"Cedric here is going to be eligible," Edward said, jabbing Cedric in the ribs, "but he's not entering."

"I suppose you're protesting the cancellation of Quidditch," she said.

Edward snorted. "Yeah, that's what it is."

Joseph took to having a nice conversation with the girl while they waited for Snape to arrive. Their class was considerably large, but the largest group was made of eight Slytherins, three boys and five girls. Finally, Snape appeared and let them into the class. "Do not take out your books," he instructed.

The students all took a seat, giving each other quizzical looks; usually, Snape wanted them to take notes or to take out some parchment for notes. Cedric sat himself next to Edward, whereas Joseph, who was finishing up his conversation with Eleanor, sat next to her.

"Pleased as I am that all of you have decided to take my N.E.W.T. level class," Snape said, staring down the end of his nose and speaking as though he was anything _but _pleased, "I know that larger classes, especially the older and younger crowds may be subject to talking—Mr. Dawson, Miss Anders, save it for after class, I presume you do not wish to rob Hufflepuff of precious points on the first day of term." Immediately, Eleanor and Joseph stopped talking.

"As I was saying before our interruption, there will be no silly rule breaking in my N.E.W.T. level class. I do not want any distractions, _especially _with the Triwizard Tournament this year."

Snape seemed just as displeased about the Tournament as Eleanor was; perhaps he had been hoping that Slytherin would win the Quidditch Cup that year after their loss against Gryffindor the previous term. Cedric remembered their victory well. While he was upset that that had meant that Hufflepuff lost the cup, he was glad that Gryffindor was able to get something after their upsetting loss to them when their Seeker, Harry Potter, fell off his broomstick and fainted due to Dementors.

"Am I clear?" No one dared speak. "Now then. Get into groups of four. I want to see how much knowledge you have retained from my classes the past five years. Please make me a Draught of Peace. You have the rest of the period."

Cedric, Edward, Eleanor, and Joseph formed a group at one table and got to work immediately making their potions. Edward complained bitterly (in a hushed tone, so as not to be overheard by Snape) that this particular potion was stupid and that if anyone in a N.E.W.T. level class couldn't make it, they obviously wouldn't be fit to be there.

During this exchange, Joseph said, "What's that about you not entering the Triwizard Tournament?"

Cedric, blushing slightly, glanced up to make sure that Edward and Eleanor were not listening, then said, "Maddie asked me not to this morning."

"I thought you said that you wanted to do it in the Great Hall last night?"

"I did, but…you know how she is. Careful, you're stirring too much."

Joseph cursed under his breath, then said, "You know, you're just so _good _at everything. No wonder everyone wants you to be champion."

"Everyone does _not _want me to be champion, what are you talking about?"

"Well, excepting Maddie and Eleanor, everyone who's talked to you about it seems to want you to be it. And why shouldn't you? I mean, you're a prefect, and intelligent…"

"You sound like Maddie."

"Yeah? I remind you of your girlfriend?"

Cedric flushed red. "Keep your voice down."

"Why?" Joseph seemed to be pressing his luck that day since he was never nearly that outspoken, but he did lower his voice to a whisper, noticing the blush. "Oh, it's because mention of her gets you all hot and bothered…"

"I am _not _hot and bothered!" Cedric snapped—a little too loudly, since Professor Snape looked over and several people in the room started to laugh.

"Mr. Diggory, is there a problem?" Snape said, striding over to them.

"No, Professor," Cedric said, not daring to look the teacher in the eye.

"Do you perhaps need to step outside for a moment to collect yourself? It seems that you may be—what's the word, 'hot and bothered'?"

Several students snickered, Joseph included, who Cedric kicked in the shin under the table. "No, I'm fine sir. I was just in the middle of my…" He pointed to his cauldron.

"Very well." Snape went across the room, checking on other various students as he went.

The rest of Potions passed without incident. When they were finally dismissed, nearly all of the class managed to produce a Draught of Peace and they were assigned a fifteen inch essay on its various uses. Edward did not seem very happy about this.

"It's a Draught of _Peace!_" he snapped. "What various uses could it have—it just makes you _peaceful!_"

* * *

><p>The first two months of school passed by slowly. Cedric turned seventeen, which had rendered a big celebration from his friends. Maddie had been kind enough to buy him something as well and presented him with a new pair of gloves for Quidditch. It had been very sweet, as she had purchased it prior to the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament and was a bit embarrassed that he couldn't use them, but it had been very kind of her anyway and he had loved them regardless.<p>

Towards the end of October a little over a month later, a sign was posted in the Great Hall, which Ernie Macmillan had told Cedric about excitedly. He went after Herbology with Edward one day to get a look at it:

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY. STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST.

Finally came the day that Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, the other two schools competing in the Tournament. After Cedric and Joseph left Charms, they quickly dropped off their belongings in the dormitory and met up with their friends, going down to where they were to meet the other schools.

On the staircase, Cedric nearly ran into a dark haired girl from Ravenclaw.

"Oh—I'm sorry, Cedric," she said happily, giggling slightly. "Didn't see you there. Yes, I'm coming, Marietta!" And off she went.

"Who was that?" he asked to Edward disdainfully, as she had gotten a little too close to him when apologizing.

"Cho Chang. She's a year below us. I thought you would have known her, she's the Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team."

"Well, she's familiar, anyway," he said as they assembled in front of the entrance to the school courtyards. She certainly was, and he could not help but notice that she was very pretty. He scorned himself immediately for thinking so; even if they weren't exactly open about it, he had a girlfriend, after all.

The teachers were all fussing over the students, especially the four Heads of House. Professor Sprout immediately went to Amber Wright, one of Maddie's friends, and nicked a Fizzing Whizbee off of her. She complained bitterly that she was only eating them to be able to see when the other schools arrived, but Professor Sprout puttered off as quickly as she came.

Finally, the horse-drawn flying carriage bringing Beauxbatons and the enormous ship carrying Durmstrang arrived, and all three schools filed into the Great Hall for supper. Most of the Beauxbatons students had settled themselves in with the Ravenclaws, although a few dispersed themselves at the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, while the lot of the Durmstrang students squeezed in with the Slytherins.

One girl stood and grabbed everyone's attention as she did, even Cedric's. He found himself transfixed by her beauty and again grew very angry again. _You have a girlfriend,_ he reminded himself sternly.

However, he felt a bit better when he heard John say, "That girl has to be part Veela, there's just no other possible explanation for her…"

He didn't get to finish, as Dumbledore stood before the Hall and announced, "The moment has come. The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket—"

"The _what?_" Liam said rather loudly.

"—just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess—their daring—their powers of deduction—and, of course, their ability to cope with danger.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

With that, he tapped the rim of the casket with his wand and suddenly from it burst a goblet, lit with blue flames whose light danced across the walls.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

As the students stood, several of those who were of age remained behind, grabbing pieces of parchment to put their names on, in order to submit it into the Goblet. The Hufflepuffs all went down to bed with the rest of the school, each house going into their respective common rooms. Cedric stole one last look at the Goblet of Fire, feeling like he was forgetting something.

The next day he planned on putting his name forth.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhanger hahahaha I got randomly inspired to write this today and it got way longer than I was anticipating? I think the rest of the chapters will be like this, more similar to the HP books than to my own writing. I just really liked the way that this turned out and it's closer to what I had in mind when I started this fic. So um yeah. Some of you (read: most) are not going to like Cedric in these upcoming chapters oh WELL. Please review and um hi.<strong>

**- Hatter of Madness**


	7. The Champions Decided

The students had all filed into the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. The house elves who prepared the food had really outdone themselves that time, Maddie reflected, as she ate dinner wedged between Amber and Sierra. Across from them sat Boo and Allison, the latter of which was looking rather bored and the former who seemed to be practically bouncing up and down.

"I heard Carson Weatherstone put his name in the Goblet of Fire," she said. "He's a seventh year—and he's _so _attractive. I hope he's the one that's chosen."

"Is he a Hufflepuff?" Sierra asked, seemingly racking her brain for who her friend might have been talking about.

She shook her head. "Slytherin—but the good kind of Slytherins. The nice ones."

Maddie rolled her eyes. "That's such a stereotype, Boo. There really is no such thing as an 'evil Slytherin'..."

"Then why does it seem like everyone who's ever gone mad or joined You Know Who was from there?"

"Because they have ambition."

"Sure they do."

They immediately fell back into conversation with each other over who they hoped was chosen from each school. By the time that their plates had been cleared of dinner and the pudding had appeared, Allison and Amber were certain that it would be Angelina Johnson for Hogwarts, Martina Bouchard from Beauxbatons ("She has the body of a _warrior,_ Sierra, you should see her," Amber said, "she's so tall and muscular!"), and Ivan Aleksandrov for Durmstrang. Maddie simply wondered how the two of them even knew Miss Bouchard and Mr. Aleksandrov in the first place, seeing as they were from another school.

"And Martina barely speaks any English," Allison said. "Oh, it was so sweet the other day when she asked me where the 'badroom' was at. I felt simply terrible about correcting her..."

"I'm sure," Maddie said, disinterest dripping from her voice.

Her eyes began to roam the Great Hall as she tried to place a guess on who would be chosen for the Tournament. At the Gryffindor table, it seemed that the students were certainly hoping Angelina Johnson would be chosen, as well as Carter Ganzby, a seventh year boy who had thick glasses that made his eyes appear to be twice the normal size and had an extremely round face. He didn't seem like a likely candidate, but then Maddie remembered two things: one, he was Head Boy; and two, he was extremely intelligent. Perhaps he _would _make a good champion.

From Ravenclaw, there was a large group of students hoping it'd be them. Kristin Frizzle was looking extremely hopeful; down the table some, Maxwell Zenneth was also a bit more jumpy than usual; and then there was a set of fraternal twins, Jane and Jeremiah Thiner, who were both hoping it'd be one of them. At Slytherin, it seemed all of them had placed their money on Hector Heathcliff, who was beaming at them all in pride.

She quickly turned her attention away from the Slytherin table in her search for Carson Weatherstone, who she found snogging a girl a little too passionately.

Martina Bouchard, Maddie had to admit, was quite pretty; like Amber had said, she was extremely tall. Maddie estimated she had to be close to Cedric in height, and she was certainly very muscular. Maddie wondered for a moment what she must have done in her spare time, because it certainly wasn't what the other Beauxbatons girls did (which was a whole lot of nothing).

And from her friends' descriptions, she found Ivan Aleksandrov with ease; he had a smug grin on his face, too, as though he had rigged the entire thing so that he would be champion. But down the table a ways from him sat Viktor Krum. Maddie would certainly be surprised if he hadn't entered his name, and if he had, she certainly liked his chances. To her, it seemed that most of the boys from Durmstrang were convinced it would be them that was chosen. For half a moment, she wondered whether they would attack the poor boy chosen to be champion, and then demand to take his place if they ended up killing him.

She finally turned her head back to the long Hufflepuff table, looking to see if there was anyone who she would put her money on. There weren't too many Hufflepuffs who had entered the tournament, so she supposed she had better just cheer on the Hogwarts student who ended up being chosen. Her eyes, as they usually did, fell on Cedric, and she felt her heart skip a beat. He was talking excitedly to his friends, making him so much more handsome than he already was—she thought he looked the sharpest when he was doing or talking about something he had a great passion for. Though she couldn't hear the conversation, she already knew what they were discussing: the tournament.

But then, they were all looking so hopeful and excited, and she knew that Cedric was the only one of them old enough to enter, but he promised he wouldn't. Were they doing the same as her friends, taking bets and guessing who they thought would be chosen?

She had to laugh, but managed to keep herself silent. Dumbledore had said himself that the Goblet of Fire, which chose the champions, was an impartial judge. There was no real way to place any bets; the champions were to be chosen at random, at least at her understanding of the practice.

Speak of the devil, she thought, as the dishes began to clear themselves and all the food on the tables suddenly vanished when most of the eating turned just to talking. The noise ceased, however, when Dumbledore stood and came to address them all. Both Professor Karkaroff from Durmstrang and Madame Maxime from Beauxbatons were standing on either side of him, and all three of them appeared very attentive. Ludo Bagman was there, too, along with Barty Crouch, Sr. Bagman was standing in a similar fashion to Dumbledore, but Crouch appeared as though he couldn't care less.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore said, and an even more noticeable hush fell over the students. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber"—he indicated to the door that was behind the staff table—"where they will be receiving their first instructions."

"What's all the fuss about?" Sierra hissed as Dumbledore took out his wand and cleared all the candles (save for those inside of a pumpkin) with a sweeping flourish of it. "Over ninety-nine percent of the school won't get to do anything special..."

"But finding out the champions is so _exciting,_" Allison breathed back, with a hint of disgust in her voice. She seemed to become easily fed up with Sierra's questions of the school and its practices, though it wasn't her fault she was so curious; she was Muggleborn.

Maddie had to agree with Allison about the excitement factor, though she didn't exactly agree with the tournament in itself. There _was _something sort of riveting about the whole affair.

The Great Hall was now in a state of semidarkness, thanks to the lack of light from the candles. The Goblet of Fire was the main source of light, as it continued to burn with a brilliant blue flame. Everyone watched expectantly, waiting for something to happen. A few moments passed, and Maddie was starting to lose interest when...

The flames suddenly tried vibrant red, and sparks began to fly out of the top of the object. A wave of flame shot into the air, high above their heads, and emitted a charred piece of parchment. The entire room gasped as the parchment flew towards Dumbledore and he snatched it out of the air, reading what was on it carefully...

"The Durmstrang champion," he said, pausing for a few moments (undoubtedly to build suspense), "is Viktor Krum!"

Krum rose from the Slytherin table, where he was being congratulated by everyone in the near vicinity of him. Maddie was a bit taken aback by this; hadn't she just thought that attempting to guess at who the champions would be was not a good idea, since there really was no way of knowing for sure? And yet, hadn't she also thought that she liked Krum's chances? Regardless, she joined in with the rest of the school with polite applause.

Her eyes flicked down the table at Cedric, who was looking back at her, deep in thought and very nervous. She raised her eyebrows in a way that was characteristic for them, an unspoken code: _are you okay?_

He nodded almost inconspicuously back a single time. This was another part of their code. _Just fine._

She turned her attention back to Dumbledore as the applause died off. Krum had come up to the staff table and was shaking hands with Karkaroff, Dumbledore, and Maxime, and then disappeared through the door. The Goblet of Fire's flames burned brighter and brighter still, until another wave of flame came erupting out of it...

Dumbledore caught the next piece of parchment then, straining to read it as he did with Krum's.

"The champion from Beauxbatons," he said, then paused yet again (did they _really_ need all the suspense?), "is Fleur Delacour!"

The other girls from Beauxbatons seemed to be very disappointed, but applauded politely nonetheless. Fleur seemed so proud of herself, jumping up gracefully and walking towards the three headmasters with a sort of grace that Maddie would never be able to imitate, not even in her wildest dreams; she just wasn't feminine enough to pull it off.

She had to admit, Fleur was quite pretty. There was, of course, first and foremost, the elegance. Maddie would never be able to hold herself the same way. But then, there was also the height—Maddie was quite short, being only about five feet tall. And on top of that, she had dazzling white skin, whereas Maddie was pale as pale could be. She had sparkling blue eyes that seemed to be deeper than the deepest lakes—and Maddie's green eyes were always hidden behind a pair of glasses. The worst part, besides the daintiness and the gracefulness, was just how _beautiful _her long, flowing blonde hair was. Maddie, too, had long blonde hair, but not like Fleur's, whose was shiny and silvery in color, and Maddie's was so dark it was almost brown. Dirty blonde, her mother called it, and it never did anything but lie flat.

Still, Fleur was champion, and Maddie shouldn't be so low as to compare herself to the girl; Amber loudly speculated (and was probably right) that she was part Veela. Maddie applauded just as politely as she had for Krum.

There was only one champion left. Hogwarts.

If she had to guess, she was going to say that it was either Angelina Johnson or one of the Thiner twins. If she could combine the three of them into one, that one person would be the perfect champion.

A large wave of flame came out of the top of the goblet, emitting a scrap of parchment...Dumbledore caught it between two fingers and read it, almost allowing himself a grin...

"The Hogwarts champion..."

Angelina Johnson?

Jane Thiner?

Jeremiah Thiner?

Carson Weatherstone?

To Maddie's great surprise, it was none of these names.

The name that _was_ called nearly made her heart stop beating.

"Is Cedric Diggory!"

It felt as though all the wind had been knocked out of her as she looked down the table to where Cedric sat. He was grinning broadly, and all of his friends had rose to their feet, slapping him on the back and congratulating him. She pressed her hands to her mouth; had he been _planning this?_

For a moment, he looked down at her, and their eyes met. He was grinning, but seeing the expression on her face, the grin faltered ever so slightly. He cocked his left eyebrow—more of their unspoken code. _What's wrong?_

She didn't dare answer, partly because he was being shoved forward by his friends and he had no choice but to go shake the headmasters' hands, but also because he should have known what was wrong, and what was she to do? Stand up on the table and shout to him? By this point, all Maddie could think about was the thought of Cedric getting seriously injured, maybe even killed in this stupid tournament (and the horrible thought crossed her mind that there was a magically binding contract, and Cedric couldn't drop out of the tournament at this point), but there was also the fact that he had deliberately disobeyed her (and broken a promise, no less), and she started to cry.

Hard.

The noise in the hall was too great for anyone to hear her, even anyone in her immediate vicinity. That was why when Amber asked, "Cedric! As champion! I bet you feel proud, don't you, Mad?" and jabbed her in the ribs that she didn't notice the tears rolling down Maddie's face.

She was sobbing much harder, but somehow softer, when Cedric exited the room and Dumbledore continued, "Excellent! Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every once of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real—"

Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and even Maddie stopped crying to see what was the matter.

The goblet had already chosen its three champions, but its flame was glowing red once again as though preparing to shoot out another name. It had to know that there wasn't any other schools, didn't it? And it did know the rule that there was only one champion from each school? Perhaps there was a glitch, and it was going to continue until it spit out every name of someone who had entered?

Sparks were flying, and finally, a single scrap of parchment came flying out, then floated towards the Headmaster, who caught the scrap, looking just as confused as everyone else undoubtedly felt. As he caught it, the flames died and changed back to blue, thereby squashing Maddie's theory that everyone's name was going to come flying out of it.

Dumbledore read the paper, cleared his throat, and looked out at the school, looking extremely concerned.

"Harry Potter."

Maddie and her friends all looked over at the Gryffindor table. Harry was looking back at Dumbledore, all eyes on him, and slowly sank lower in his seat. At the staff table, everyone looked absolutely horrified, especially Hagrid, who was mumbling to himself and shaking his head like this was all happening in a foreign language.

"Harry Potter?" Allison whispered. "What's going on?"

"The goblet chose two names?" Amber asked. "But—but Harry's not even seventeen..."

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore called again; Harry sank lower in his chair.

"What's going on?" Boo hissed. "Did he enter himself?"

"That's impossible," Maddie said, finally finding her voice. "The age line..."

Of course, an age line was an extremely tricky spell, but Dumbledore drew it himself, and if anyone was to draw a working line, it'd be Dumbledore. There was no way that Harry entered himself...but, lo and behold, he had been chosen as a _fourth _champion, and the second one for Hogwarts.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore said, breaking his usually calm demeanor by yelling. "Hurry up here, if you please!"

Finally, Harry removed himself from the Gryffindor table and walked on shaky legs. Maddie watched him go, hopelessly confused. What exactly had happened?

"He's a cheat!" someone yelled from the Hall.

"He's not even seventeen yet!" somebody else yelled.

"This is fixed!" a third person yelled.

When Harry reached Dumbledore, all of the teachers watched him go as though they were sentencing him to his death; not a single headmaster offered a hand to him, and most ignored his presence, with the exception of Dumbledore who said, "Right this way, Harry."

With that, Harry exited the Great Hall, and Dumbledore said, "You are all dismissed. Please return to your dormitories at once."

The students began to be filed out of the Great Hall by their respectable House prefect. With Cedric gone for the tournament, one of the fifth year prefects (a girl named Maureen Nighthoff) led them out of the hall to their dorms in the basement. Maddie was practically shaking all over.

"Well, regardless of what just happened," Amber said, throwing an arm around Maddie and knocking all of the wind out of her, "our Hogwarts champion—well, one of them—is a Hufflepuff! And Maddie's best friend, isn't he?"

She couldn't respond.

"I bet you're just bursting with joy on the inside, aren't you?"

She found her voice again just enough to say, "Oh, I'm bursting, alright."

"You seem upset," Sierra said.

"Probably just shocked," Amber said. "I was, too. I never in a million years suspected it'd be Hufflepuff—we never win in Quidditch or the House Cup, but I suppose this gives us a chance to get some comeuppance, wouldn't you say?"

Maddie's insides were writhing and twisting uncomfortably. When they finally reached the common room, Cedric's friends (John, Edward, Joseph, and Liam) were gathering everyone around to prepare them for a celebration, but Maddie excused herself to go up to bed.

As soon as she got into her pajamas and saw her bed, she collapsed onto it, weeping. Cedric's safety was her biggest concern, but it seemed to be something he just didn't care about at all. After all, he had put his name forward after promising her that he wouldn't. What in the world was he thinking?

Answer: he wasn't thinking. Not at all.

* * *

><p>When Cedric returned to the common room about an hour later, a bit confused but overall pleasantly surprised, the room erupted into cheer. John ran forth and draped a banner around Cedric's shoulders as the room erupted into cheers of, "Diggory—Diggory—Diggory..."<p>

"Make way, one half of the Hogwarts champions coming through!" John shouted, leading Cedric over to the hearth at the far corner of the room. "Congrats, man. I'm glad it was you."

The chants of 'Diggory' slowly faded into 'speech', but Cedric wasn't having any of it. He beamed proudly, draping the banner over an armchair, glad that he was selected. Finally, he had a reason for his parents to be proud of him. They claimed that they already were—and in his mother's case, that was probably true—but his father... Well, his father had a funny way of showing his admiration for his son, in that he didn't.

Sure, he boasted long and loud about all of his accomplishments to anyone who listened, but only if they matched a set of preconceived goals that he had. What about the time that Cedric had been the first to learn one of the hardest spells in his textbook in his second year? "Good job," his father said, with only meager pride. "Now let's see about getting you to becoming a star Quidditch player, eh?"

And as for Quidditch, when he was finally selected as a fourth year as the Hufflepuff Seeker, that announcement was heard _loud _by everyone. Academics, who cared about those? It was in sports that the real glory was at. Sure, Cedric loved Quidditch too, but it would have been nice if it wasn't the only thing his father cared about. And when his prefect badge came in the mail, all his father said was, "On the path to becoming Head Boy! And after that, I'm sure you're determined to join me at the Ministry, aren't you?"

And for Cedric, this tournament was something he was so eager to do, and it was certainly something that his parents wanted as well. Now that he was selected, he was determined to win. He was so glad that he decided to enter after all; what _was _it that was holding him back in the first place?

His friends dragged him from his thoughts, slapping him on the back and offering him a bottle of butterbeer, which he took happily and took a long drink out of. A large group of girls came over and started giggling in his presence, congratulating him for being selected, as though he had much choice in the matter; all he had done was simply write 'Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts' on a piece of parchment and put it in the Goblet of Fire, along with over a hundred other people.

As the girls ogled at him, he smiled back politely, yet a bit bored, then turned to cross to Joseph, who was standing off to the side by himself. As he looked about the scene, there was one person who seemed to be missing, and Joseph was the only person he could ask about it...

"Congratulations, Cedric," he said, grinning broadly. "I had hoped it'd be you..."

"Thanks, Joseph," he said back, then took another drink of butterbeer. "Listen, have you seen Maddie anywhere? I'd really like to speak to her..."

Joseph frowned. "Oh. She went to her room almost immediately after we got back."

Cedric, too, frowned. "She did? Why?"

Joseph shrugged. "Dunno. But she seemed upset."

Cedric's frown deepened. "Upset? Why would she..."

Suddenly, realization hit him.

* * *

><p><em><em>"What is it?"<em>_

__"Well...you heard Dumbledore last night."__

__Good Lord, Maddie was beautiful. But she was also very fidgety, and a bit panicked... He wondered for a moment what was the matter with her. This thought set him on edge, and so he stood up straight, frowning.__

_"About the Triwizard Tournament?"_

_Ah. That would be it. He relaxed some. "What about it?"_

_Her voice was shaking. Good God, why was her voice shaking so much? "You wanted to enter it, didn't you? You're the only one of your friends who's old enough to do it. I saw the look on your face."_

_"Well...yeah, I suppose I do." He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant about it, in attempt to calm her nerves, though what she was nervous about, he had no idea. "Why? What about it?"_

_She sighed, as though he was missing the point. He felt like he was, and was hoping she'd just come out with it; her nervousness was setting him on edge as well. "It's just...well, you know what Dumbledore said. That people have _died _in this tournament? I did some research on it last night before I went to bed, in _Hogwarts, A History_, and it wasn't just the champions that have been hurt in it. In the last tournament, all three Heads of the schools—Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons—were injured by a cockatrice that the champions had to capture. If it's dangerous enough to hurt the _judges..._" She trailed off._

_He nodded, hoping to get this conversation over with so that he could finally work on calming her down. "Go on."_

_"I just would sleep easier at night if I didn't have to worry about you."_

_There was a silence as realization set in. "Are you asking me..."_

_"Not to enter?" He nodded. "Well..."_

_He knew that that was a yes._

* * *

><p>"Oh, shit," he muttered to himself, setting his bottle of butterbeer on the table. When he spoke again, he was slightly more audible, speaking so that only Joseph could hear him. "Oh, God, Joseph...I made a mistake."<p>

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you remember? She asked me a long time ago not to enter the tournament."

Joseph nodded, his face showing that he suddenly remembered too.

"And..." Cedric said, trailing off. It wasn't needed for him to explain that he had entered; after all, he had just been chosen.

"I see the problem," Joseph muttered. "Well, what are you going to do?"

"Apologize," Cedric said. "What else can I do?"

With that, he took off to where he saw her friends, far against the back wall. He only knew one of them by name (thanks both to Maddie and to Liam), but he didn't know which one it was, so he took a guess and just spoke to the group. "Er, excuse me—Amber?"

They all stopped talking when he spoke, as though they were questioning whether he was really addressing one of them. The one with long, curly brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes, like a cat's looked at him attentively. "Yes?"

"You're Maddie's friend, right?" She nodded. "Do you know where she is?"

"In our room," she said, "she said she was tired. I thought she'd want to stay here and congratulate you."

"Trust me, congratulating me is the last thing she'll be doing in the near future..."

With that, he walked away. He suddenly felt far tenser than he had for a long time.

John ran up to him, followed closely by Liam and Edward. "Hey, man!" Liam said. "How's it feel bringing all this glory to Hufflepuff?"

"Mmm," he said, trying to maneuver his way through the crowd in the direction of the girls' dorms.

"Hey—what's the matter?" Edward asked. "You don't seem quite yourself. Is everything... Why are you going towards the girls' dorms?"

He paused just outside the archway that led to the staircase to all of the girls' dorms. He stared down at his feet, then looked over his shoulder at Edward. "I—need to speak to someone."

"Well, you're never going to do it that way," Liam said. "There's some sort of force field that prevents guys from going into the girls' dorms. But they can come into ours."

Cedric's face suddenly set into anger at this development. He had remembered that; the founders didn't think that they could trust the boys as much, and so each House had this feature on the girls' dorms. He turned around, exhaling heavily, and said, "Great. This is really important, too..."

"Well, just forget about it. Most of the girls you'd ever want to talk to are all in here," Edward said, leading Cedric away from the archway. Cedric didn't tell him what he was thinking: _I don't _want _to talk to any girls. I _need _to talk to this one. _Liam followed after them, though John was still standing at the archway, looking after Cedric very suspiciously.

Liam stopped, turning back around to look at John. "Oi, what's the matter?"

John shook his head and answered before following them again. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

They pulled Cedric to the middle of the room, then Liam stood up on a table and said, "Cedric Diggory, the _real _Hogwarts champion!"

The room started to cheer, but Cedric's thoughts were elsewhere. _I may be a winner,_ he said, thinking of how hurt and betrayed Maddie must have been thinking at that very moment, _but I sure feel like a loser._

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, here is my long winded apology for never updating this story. And since some of the details are like 'uh, what?', <em>yes, this is an entirely true story.<em>**

**So, I last updated in March, and started working on chapter seven about a week after I posted chapter six. But then, I was cast in my school's production of _Beauty and the Beast_, albeit a very small part. Still, being at rehearsal gave me very little time to do anything "productive" (I use that loosely since I know my parents don't consider writing to be very productive, especially writing fanfiction). So that went on until the very beginning of May. Then after BatB ended, I had to start focusing on my AP tests (I was in AP English Language and AP US History). That also took up a pretty reasonable chunk of time. Then, once I was all done with AP testing, I had finals. YAY.**

**Not.**

**So anyway, finals. I did very well on these; my worst grade in a class was like an 85%, so I got a B because the American grading system is super unfair and anything lower than a 90% is a B. That was in English, my best subject, but like I said it was AP and my teacher was a REALLY STRICT grader. Although he was the best English teacher I've ever had, too, and he was my favorite teacher despite how strict he was in grading. I really like to think that his guidance was the reason I got a 5 on my AP English exam and therefore don't have to take English Language in college (in AP land, the best possible score on an AP test is a 5, and scores of 3-5 will give you college credit so you don't have to take the class once you're in college. The grading scale is complicated, so I recommend you check out the College Board's website if you want to understand it).**

**Anyway, summer starts and I'm SERIOUSLY READY to get back into my fanfiction mode. And then I had way too many health problems to list here, so I was not in the mood to write. So I finally get tested for these problems and are awaiting the results and I decide, 'Hey, now's a good time to start working on the next chapter of _Fearless_ since I have been attempting to write this godforsaken thing for FOUR DAMN YEARS NOW'.**

**And then my laptop crashed.**

**Just days before I had to go across the country to Philadelphia for a creative writing summer program where we were sort of required to have a computer. So I had to buy a new Toshiba laptop, complete with Windows 8 which I HATE WITH A PASSION OH MY GOD, so I could go to Philadelphia. I would have wrote the chapter there, but my stupid laptop that crashed had all of my notes for this fanfiction on it, so no bueno. My old computer luckily had the hard drive intact, so a coworker of my mom's saved all of my files. But I was on the other side of the country, so there was no way I could possibly get the files and use them.**

**So I got home and my files still weren't back from my mom's coworker. And I needed the files to write this, because I had carefully outlined this story and two sequels on my computer (yes, two. Don't judge me; I've been thinking about this couple pretty much nonstop for four years now, okay?) and if I deviated from my outline it would majorly screw up the rest of my outline and I didn't want to have to rework it. It took until October for me to get them all back. And YAY TIME TO WRITE. Except now I'm the lead in another play so boo I can't write. Oh, play's over, time to write YAY-oh wait my boyfriend/potential fiance just broke up with me. Okay I'm sad and have a lot of emotion I need to let out YAY WRITING TIME-except now it's November so that means NaNoWriMo and applying for colleges.**

**And now here we are.**

**And oh God, according to my outline you all are going to hate me starting in chapter nine. I'm preparing my funeral as we speak. Please don't be too harsh; everything will get worked out, I promise.**

**I hope you accept this apology regarding my absence, and I also hope that you're kind enough to please review.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	8. The Hogwarts Champion

Maddie suffered through a very restless night. Every single time one of her friends came to bed, she was aroused by the light and the noise from the common room downstairs. One of them (it sounded like Sierra) even came over to her bedside, whispering to her, "Are you awake?" Maddie presumed that she wanted to check up on her and see if everything was alright, but she went very stiff and pretended to be asleep until her friend walked away and started to change into her pajamas.

After a while, just before Amber (the last of her four dorm mates to come in) arrived, she wondered whether she should go looking for Cedric; but then, she was so angry and upset with him that she couldn't form coherent thoughts. Whenever she did manage to fall asleep for a bit, she just woke up again a little while later from a bad dream, looking at her watch angrily each time. She never actually wore the watch (and that was why, she presumed, she often had to race to her lessons so as to avoid being late), but instead used it as a clock on her bedside table; an actual clock would have taken up too much space.

When it was finally time for everyone to get up, she suddenly felt thoroughly exhausted. She dressed herself in her robes, brushed her hair out of her face the best that she could, and stepped into a pair of shoes before going down the stairs to the common room. When she arrived, Allison and Amber were already looking at the bulletin board, the one that announced school news such as meetings of the Gobstone Club or Quidditch tryouts. Someone had come in during the night and tacked up the following notice:

THE FIRST HOGSMEADE TRIP  
>OF THE YEAR WILL BE HELD ON<br>SATURDAY, FIFTH NOVEMBER

Students will depart at 12:30  
>and must return by 5:30.<p>

ALL THIRD YEAR STUDENTS:  
>Please remember to bring your permission slip<br>to give to your Head of House.

Dress warmly; it is very cold in the village.

Maddie craned her neck to see it, because so many of the other students crowding around it were so tall. When she finally read it, she walked away with mixed emotions, unsure of what to do or think.

Cedric had been promising her for the longest time to take her to the village, almost on a tour. This had been an offer he made when she was younger, after his first trip to the village, as a token of their friendship. Now that they were _more _than just friends, however...it seemed like an invitation for a date. She knew that this meant that they would have to make up in only four days' time. Was that even enough time to do that?

She looked up and saw him coming with his friends and made a mad dash for the door to exit the common room. She wasn't quite ready to talk to him about what had happened the night before, and needed some time to simmer down a bit before trying to get his side of the story. She took one last look over her shoulder before she went to breakfast and tried to pretend the look of disappointment on his face when he saw where she was headed to.

* * *

><p>The Study of Ancient Runes often left Maddie's head in a whirl, and that day was no different. She was the only of her friends to take the class (even Ginny and Luna couldn't be bothered with it), and so she often sat next to Colin Creevey, a boy from Gryffindor who <em>never stopped talking.<em> By the end of class, her head was often swimming with all of his chatter.

She enjoyed the class, so long as Colin was at least _a little bit_ quiet, but she was a bit frustrated that it was already November and they were still learning the numbers. She had taken the class because she loved languages, even archaic, lost to the ages ones. Now, it seemed almost like study hall. Professor Babbling had just announced a quiz for numbers in runes for their following lesson, and Maddie seemed like the only one in the class who wasn't panicstricken at the news. She was confident that she'd do well.

This was her last class before dinner on Tuesdays, so she went to the Great Hall after and found a seat by her friends, trying her best to avoid Cedric's gaze. She still needed to settle her mind a bit before she spoke to him.

"Cedric's looking for you," Boo told her as she sat down.

"I know," Maddie said.

"Aren't you going to go talk to him?"

"No, not yet."

"He said it was important."

"I'm sure it is."

Boo was obviously concerned by Maddie's apparent lack of concern. "This isn't like you."

She shrugged. "How was Care of Magical Creatures?"

Boo frowned. "I wish I had listened to you when you told me not to take it."

"I told you to just take Ancient Runes with me. That class is much more practical."

"And it's got a somewhat sensible teacher. Hagrid's a nutcase. None of it makes any sense..."

"I thought you said you were good at it?"

"I am. But that's kind of subjective. And that doesn't mean I understand it."

As their other friends arrived, Maddie and Boo fell back into silence. In order to force her mind off of what it had been on all day, Maddie tried to remember the story that her friend had given her when they met as to why she never used her first name. She didn't see anything wrong with the name 'Eloise', but if anyone ever called Boo that, she'd get very red in the face before she corrected them.

Unfortunately, even this thought wasn't enough to clear her mind; as she thought of this, her mind floated back nine years, to when she struggled to pronounce 'Cedric' and instead called him 'Ceddie'...

She stood up then without a word. All of her friends looked at her curiously.

"Aren't you going to finish eating?" Allison asked.

She shook her head. "Can't—I've got a runes quiz coming up that I need to study for." She was a better liar than Cedric; she had no immediate giveaways like he did. As soon as he was biting his lip, she knew that he was lying about something. As such, Boo was the only person who seemed unconvinced, as they had just been discussing this class; however, she didn't say anything. The other girls wished her luck as she walked away.

Down the table some, Cedric's heart was pounding as he stared at his plate unmoving. He hadn't touched any of his dinner, and he didn't feel hungry at all. He was too overwrought with guilt to do much of anything at the moment. There was just so much to be guilty about...

"Are you alright, Ced?" John asked after a while. "You seem a little down."

He looked up, sighed, and shook his head. "I've...made some mistakes."

"Have those mistakes affected your ability to eat?" Edward asked. "You haven't touched your plate."

"Not hungry."

"Then you wouldn't mind if me and Liam finished it off, would you?"

He shoved his plate towards them. "Go for it."

As they both immediately took to dividing its contents, he looked up upon seeing a movement across the Great Hall. Down at her end of the table, Maddie was getting up and leaving. She had gotten to the doorway before he made up his mind and jumped out of his seat as well.

"Is there a problem?" John asked.

"I've—I've got something I need to attend to. I'll see you later."

He walked away without another word, hurrying to try to catch up with her. She was carrying a textbook under one arm—_Rune Dictionary_—and seemed to be a bit absentminded. He took a deep breath, quickened his pace a bit, and was almost caught up with her (Merlin, for someone so short, she walked so fast) when he finally found his voice again, "Maddie—"

She turned, her face shocked (presumably from being pulled from her thoughts), but her expression fell when she saw him. She had stopped walking upon hearing her name, but immediately began again when she saw who her pursuer was and quickened her step.

He shook his head, almost breaking into a run to catch up with her. "Maddie, I've been looking all over for you," he said when they finally fell into step together. "It's like you've been avoiding me." _Had _she been avoiding him?

Rather than respond to this, she said, staring at the ground in front of her, "Well, if it isn't the _Hogwarts champion_."

"Maddie, don't do that..."

"Come to rub it in?"

"No. I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" She stopped walking, and he skidded to a halt as well. "Apologize for what? For completely disregarding what I asked you to do? I trusted you, Cedric."

These words hurt him especially hard—if only she knew the entire truth. "I know, and I'm sorry. I just...I completely forgot that you asked me, and..."

"_Completely forgot?_" He jumped in surprise. That was another thing; for such a small girl, she had a loud voice when need be. "You completely forgot a simple promise that you made to me?"

"You had me make that promise _months _ago now. How was I supposed to remember..."

"Of course you didn't remember, I'd forgotten that you have the memory capacity of a Puffskein!"

Now that, that one hurt. "That's not fair..."

"Well, I always remember things for you!" she said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. "It'd be nice if you could return the favor every once in a while, is all I'm saying."

"I remember things for you..."

"Oh, do you?" She looked up at him with a mixture of contempt and mischief. "Then if you remember things that I tell you, you ought to remember this one. I must have told you it five times just this year alone. What's my favorite color?"

_Shit. She's told you this before. You have to know what this is... _"Um, is it yellow?" He saw the look on her face and suddenly spitted out, "No, it's red. No, wait...blue?"

"Unbelievable," she muttered, shaking her head and walking away.

"Wait! You have to at least tell me what it is!" He started to follow her towards the common room before she turned around, causing him to skid to a halt once more as she rounded on him. She looked very dangerous at the moment; he wasn't sure whether he wanted to be around her with her this upset.

"This conversation isn't about my favorite color. And all three of those guesses were _wrong,_ for the record."

"Okay, right. It's about the tournament." He forced himself to get a grip on what was actually happening in this conversation; he wasn't going to let her walk away again without him at least _trying _to apologize. "Why is it bothering you so much?"

"Because I asked you not to enter, you promised you would, and then you were selected as champion? Which is pretty impressive, I must say, especially if you didn't enter yourself."

"Of course I entered myself. And I had completely forgotten that you had asked me that, okay? I totally forgot. And I'm sorry, I really should have remembered that, because it wasn't such an outlandish request. But to be quite honest, I wasn't really expecting to be chosen..."

"So that made it okay to enter?"

"No, it didn't. But I wasn't expecting that you'd find out that I did. I just thought...I thought maybe I would just do it, just for fun. I was the only one of my close friends who was old enough to do it. It was really just for the thrill, but I knew I wouldn't object if I ended up being chosen."_  
><em>

"Well, that's good, since you can't back out of it now. But you just don't seem to care how dangerous this thing is. No, correction. It's beyond dangerous. It's potentially life threatening. And to be quite frank with you, I'm appalled that they're letting Harry Potter do it because of that. But I guess I _have _always cared more about your safety than you did."

"I care about my safety, okay? But I can take care of myself. And so I decided to enter...and something in my head was telling me that I shouldn't the entire time. I suppose I was still conscious of my promise, even if I didn't keep it. But it's too late now. I've already entered, and I've been selected."

"But you couldn't have even said something to me?" She sounded so hurt. That made what he also had to say so much more difficult. He pushed that thought from his mind, instead placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I know I should have," he said, his voice much softer and quieter than it had been for the rest of the conversation. "And I'm so damn sorry that I didn't. But I want you to know that I was thinking of you when I did it."

He had finally gotten under her skin; her features softened the lightest bit at this. "Really?"

He nodded. "I wanted to make me be somebody that you could be proud of."

She smiled at this revelation, then looked down at the ground again. "I...I don't know what to say."

"Say nothing. I just wanted you to know that I'm so truly, completely, honestly sorry. For everything."

She was sure that 'for everything' was just in regards to the tournament, but it still stood out as odd to her. She pushed this thought from her mind, however, saying, "Alright. I accept your apology. So, on that note, do you have any plans on Saturday?"

He practically jumped out of his skin at the question. "Uh...why?" _There was no way that she could have possibly known._

She frowned seeing the jumpiness and said, "It's the first Hogsmeade trip. You said we would go together?"

He frowned, panicstricken. "Was that _this _weekend?"

A thought struck her. "Don't tell me you also forgot that we were supposed to go to Hogsmeade together?"

_Shit. For Merlin's sake, Cedric, you're an idiot. _"I'm sorry...I did."

She took a deep breath then, as though she had anticipated this. "Well, do these plans still exist?"

He shook his head. "Maddie, I'm so sorry. I have...other plans that day. I completely forgot about _our_ plans, otherwise I wouldn't have..."

She took another deep breath, trying to resist the tears that were forming in her eyes. She cut him off by saying, "It wouldn't kill you to remember promises." She couldn't help but notice that he had tiptoed around saying _what_ exactly his 'other plans' were.

"You have no idea," he said grimly. "I'm so sorry, Mad. Maybe some other time? Next time?"

She took a moment to think about it before she nodded and said, "Alright. I'll—I'll see you later, I suppose." She pulled herself closer to him, and from where her eyes were focused, he assumed she was going in for a kiss. It wasn't necessarily dangerous for that, considering nobody else was around, but he turned his head quickly and instead enveloped her in his arms in an embrace. He could practically feel the disappointment from her, but she turned and walked away without another word.

_You should have said something, you idiot._

"What was that about?"

The voice made him jump out of his skin; he turned around quickly, his heart racing, but it settled some when he saw that it was just Joseph. He breathed a sigh of relief. For a wild moment, he thought that they had been discovered.

"Oh, it's you."

"Yes, just Joseph. Nobody who doesn't know about your girlfriend."

"Keep your voice down."

"Merlin's beard, Cedric, don't you think you should just come out with it?"

"Now's not exactly a good time for that."

"Why? Because of the tournament?"

"Just...because. That's why."

He started to walk back to the common room. His head was pounding; he was so stressed. If only Joseph knew the truth. If Maddie knew the truth... No, the truth would kill her, and he hated to see her unhappy. The truth was slowly killing him, too.

"Well, regardless." Joseph was by no means short, but he was struggling to keep up with Cedric's long strides; he used his height to his advantage when walking throughout the school. "What was that about? You've had those plans to go Hogsmeade with her for _years. _You even told me this morning that the first trip was coming up. You must have remembered your plans with her?"

"Look, I'd rather not talk about it, okay? I made a mistake and had to cancel my plans with her. That's all you need to know."

"What kind of a mistake?"

"A mistake, okay?" he snapped. "I'd rather not talk about it."

When Cedric finally reached the common room, he almost immediately went up to bed. It wasn't even late, but he couldn't take his thoughts anymore. Good God, he was an idiot. How could he have forgotten not just one, but _two _important promises? Maddie wasn't just his girlfriend—she was also his best friend, despite the gender disparity. How could he just hurt his best friend like that?

_She's not even hurt yet,_ he thought as he drifted into an uneasy sleep at long last. _And hopefully, she never will be._

* * *

><p><strong>I know I just updated two days ago, but I felt like this update was necessary for three reasons: the first, I'm trying to get to the Yule Ball by Christmas, as a Christmas present to you all (you're welcome!); the second, I made a 'poster' for this story (because I felt odd having the Mad Hatter there, especially since this is a Harry Potter story) and wanted your opinions on it; and the third, I've now made up a strict schedule for myself for updating this story. I've been attempting to write it now for four years and I even outlined it, but I never upload a chapter and I hate myself for it. I just want to get this thing written because it's been gnawing at me for what feels like forever now. And I promise, I'm going to try my best to stick to my schedule.<strong>

**On that note, you can expect my next update on the fourth. And trust me, you're going to hate me for what's going to happen in the next few chapters. If you suddenly decide to stop reading because of it, then I don't really blame you. But I ask that you at least try to wait it out, because I've been so devoted to this stupid story _for four years. _I seriously think about it every day even if I never write it. Like, that's not even normal. I have literally thought about this story every day for four years. That's so weird I'm such a weird person maybe this is why I don't have any friends- (somebody please be Hatter's friend, she's lonely.) She'll even tell you her real name if you will be her friend.**

**Okay, weird emo rant over. You can expect to start hating me on the fourth of December, when the next chapter will be posted. Also, I live in California, so say I promise a chapter on the fifteenth and you see it on the sixteenth... It might just be a time difference thing. And if I genuinely do update on the sixteenth, then I'll try to give a good explanation. SO, on that note, I look forward to the death threats I'm going to receive for chapter nine. :D**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	9. The Beginning of the End

"Where are we going first?" Sierra asked, looking around the square in wonder.

"Zonko's."

Allison frowned. "You're _always _talking about that, Amber."

"Because Zonko's is the first place I wanted to go to when I finally got the chance to go to Hogsmeade. I say we go there."

"I say we don't," Allison argued. "How about the Three Broomsticks? I hear that you can get butterbeers from there..."

"But at Zonko's, you can get _sweets,_ which is _better _than butterbeer."

"Sweets like Hiccough Sweets. If you _really _want sweets, you could go to Honeydukes—_or _the Three Broomsticks."

"How about we split up?" Boo finally asked, beyond annoyed with her friends. "Those of us who want to go to the Three Broomsticks can go with Allison, and those of us interested in Zonko's can go with Amber. And then we can meet up in an hour or so?"

"Sounds like a plan," Maddie said, nodding. She was going to go with Allison to the Three Broomsticks (she was freezing, and could use a hot drink), but Amber begged her to stay with her and go to Zonko's.

"Please, Mad? Don't make me go alone." Everyone else had also followed Allison to the pub, leaving Amber all alone to go to her _dream _destination. Maddie sighed and agreed, going into the store with her with only mild interest. "If you're cold," Amber said, "you can get a deck of Exploding Snap cards."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Amber," she said. She hid a sigh; she supposed she could come back another time to the village to go to the Three Broomsticks. Perhaps it'd be when Cedric took her on a tour.

For the next hour, Amber would pick up something and show it to her, getting more and more excited with each item—although Maddie became less and less pleased. After a while, Amber finally put back the Sugar Quills she had been looking at and said, "You could at least pretend that you're excited."

"I'm just...preoccupied, I suppose."

That was true. There was entirely too much on Maddie's mind, what with the Triwizard Tournament and her despair at Cedric cancelling their plans. She knew she had to try to have a good time, at the very least for Amber's sake, but it was extremely difficult to do so.

"Well, it's almost been an hour," Amber said. "Let me just pay for this and then we can go meet up with Allison."

They left the shop, Amber's pockets lighter by two Galleons ("I cannot _believe_ you bought all of that stuff, Amber, you didn't actually need it...") and her arms heavier, as she had dangled a shopping bag on her wrist. They left the shop at roughly the same time that Allison, Boo, and Sierra exited the Three Broomsticks. They seemed to be having a very good time as they made their way down the street. Almost immediately, they started to fill in the other two girls on their adventures in the shop: they had spent a good deal of time just watching passerby.

As they were fussing over what Amber had wasted her money on, Boo finally asked, "Oh, Maddie—I thought you said that your friend Cedric wasn't coming to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

She frowned. "He _didn't _come to Hogsmeade."

"Well, we're pretty sure that we saw him going into Madam Puddifoot's about twenty minutes ago."

She shook her head. "That's impossible."

"Actually, it's very possible. I'm nearly positive it was him," Allison said. "It certainly looked like him."

Seeing the look on Maddie's face, Amber was quick to change the subject. "It probably wasn't him. I'm sure it was just somebody else that looked like him. Why don't we all go to Honeydukes for a little bit before we head back up to the school?"

That was precisely what they did, though Maddie's mind wasn't able to rest. There wasn't any way that what Allison said was _true,_ was there? No, Cedric wouldn't have lied to her. He had said that he couldn't go to Hogsmeade, so he must still be at the school, right?

That was when a horrible thought crossed her mind. He never said he wasn't going to Hogsmeade _at all._ He just said he couldn't go with _her._

"Maddie!" Amber called. Maddie suddenly snapped to attention and turned her head towards the brunette girl, who was looking at a display with a broad smile on her face. "Maddie, you love peppermint toads, don't you? They've got them here for only six Sickles a package!"

Maddie nodded indifferently.

Amber sighed. "Look, if this is about what Allison said about Cedric...if you're that worried about it, just confront him about it. And if he was here, he probably was just out with some friends."

"He still wasn't honest with me," she said, "not completely."

As they walked back to the school, Maddie realized that Amber was right. She needed to talk to him to get to the bottom of what was happening. There was a good chance that he was back at the castle, like he promised. And if he wasn't, then she would ask what exactly was going on. Something had seemed very wrong with him for a long time, and she was determined to find out what the matter was.

* * *

><p>Back in the Hufflepuff common room, Cedric sat in front of the fire, staring at the flames rather bored. He wondered for a moment whether he had a Potions essay due soon, and if he did, whether he could cite the tournament as a reason to not complete it... He'd have to ask Joseph later...<p>

_Speak of the devil._ Joseph had descended the stairs from their dormitory into the common room. He stared at Cedric a bit confused, then asked, "Where have you been all day?"

Cedric looked up at his friend and shrugged. "Places. You haven't been in our room all day, have you? I figured you'd want to go to Hogsmeade with everyone else."

"Once you've gone to Hogsmeade three times, you've seen everything it has. It lost the thrill back in fourth year." He sat down on the sofa next to Cedric. "So, 'places'? What kinds of places were you at?"

Would Joseph _ever _stay out of his private life? The questions weren't even that invading, but he still felt a total violation of his personal space. He scooted away from Joseph on the sofa, looking back at the flames in the fireplace. He was quite cold; he needed to warm himself up. He took his time to answer his friend, finally deciding on, "I don't see why it's any of your business."

Joseph frowned. "Why'd it take you so long to answer?"

He didn't answer, instead saying, "Did we have an essay due for Professor Snape this week?"

"Why are you avoiding the question?"

At that moment, the door swung open, and the first groups of students from Hogsmeade were returning. There was Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan, two fourth years; Colleen McNellis and Spencer Pratt, two seventh years; Amber, Allison, Sierra, Boo, and...

There she was. Cedric rose and crossed to her. She stopped talking to her friends and turned her attention to Cedric. "Hey," he said, trying not to sound too friendly. Of course, he had to sound like her _friend_, but anything more and he could raise some suspicions. "Did you enjoy the village?"

She smiled at him—friendly, but not _too _friendly. "I didn't see much of it, but it was nice."

"I'm sorry I couldn't go with you. Maybe some other time."

"It's alright. Listen, I have an Ancient Runes quiz this week...perhaps we could chat later?"

He nodded. "See you later."

He turned back to the fireplace to retrieve his jacket, which he had laid over the back of the sofa, before turning to go back to the dormitories. Joseph was following him at a distance that was too close for his liking. Stealing a glance over his shoulder, he asked, "Is something the matter?"

"Something _is _the matter, actually." Cedric froze, turning on the stairs. He was nearly at their dormitory by this time and was determined to get there quickly. Joseph took his sweet, precious time, however, in getting to his point. "So, you were in 'places' today?"

"That's right."

"Are those places in the castle?"

"Um...why?"

He shrugged. "No reason." He climbed two more stairs, bringing him almost eye level with Cedric. "So, it's always snowing in Hogsmeade, isn't it, Cedric?"

Cedric nodded. "Yeah, it is."

Joseph then climbed up three more stairs, so that he was one above the one that Cedric stood on, then he turned around to face his friend once more. "It's funny," he said at long last, in a quiet voice, as though he was afraid that they were being spied on, and in such a way that set Cedric on edge. "It's always snowing in Hogsmeade, you claim that you didn't go to Hogsmeade today..." He lowered his voice even further. "And yet, you smell like snow."

Seeing the shocked look on Cedric's face, he asked, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Cedric didn't answer, so Joseph turned and walked up the last few steps to their room. As soon as he was gone, Cedric turned and sat down on the stairs, his heart beating about twelve miles an hour. If Joseph was suspicious, he only wondered what Maddie must have been thinking.

* * *

><p>Maddie woke up early on the day of November the eighth, unable to go back to sleep and, for some reason, filled with excitement. For a few minutes, she didn't understand where this feeling had come from, but then it suddenly clicked with her. It had been a year ago that Cedric had admitted that he fancied her, they had finally gotten together, and he had kissed her for the first time.<p>

She smiled to herself as she got dressed, putting the locket that he had given her for her birthday around her neck as the finishing touch. She didn't expect him to remember—after all, he had proved that he was terrible at remembering _dates_—but it was still a nice, sweet thing for her to think about.

"Somebody's giddy today," Sierra said, nodding in Maddie's direction as she dressed.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, I am." She smiled to herself.

"Why is that?"

"Don't you remember?" Boo called from where she sat on her bed, then added in a high pitched, teasing voice, "She's got her Ancient Runes quiz today that she's _definitely_ going to pass..."

"If that's what you're so 'giddy' about," Amber said, tying the laces of her trainer quickly, "then you need a new hobby."

_If only they knew._

They went down the stairs to the common room, then right back up to breakfast in the Great Hall. Maddie stole a glance down the table some, to where Cedric and his friends usually sat, looking to see if he remembered. They were certainly celebrating that day's date, alright, but for an entirely different reason—it was his friend Liam's seventeenth birthday. Boo followed her eyes and suddenly sat up straighter.

"Oh, damn—I forgot all about Liam's birthday. Shows what a good cousin I am..."

"I thought you got him some sweets from Honeydukes when we were in Hogsmeade?" Allison asked.

"Well, I _did_...but I was hungry the other night and..."

"Save it. I get the picture." Allison stood up. "Are you ready to go to class?"

The five of them got up and went to their class. That morning, they had Charms with Professor Flitwick first, along with the third year Ravenclaws, and so they went off in the direction of his classroom. Maddie especially liked this period, because she had it with Luna, one of her best friends from home. Luna didn't really have too many friends other than her and Ginny, and so she usually spent the period talking with her as they practiced the spells.

That day, they were continuing their work on the Cheering Charm—_Facio Hilarem_—using a partner as the person that they were trying to cheer up, though Professor Flitwick had to remind them to be careful in doing so; when he had his class of Gryffindor and Slytherin, he had to send a student to a quiet room in another part of the castle, as his partner had put him in such a good mood that he continued to giggle for the rest of the period.

The students around them were cheering their partners with varied success as Maddie stood next to Luna, concentrating hard on happiness.

"You're in an exceptionally good mood today," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice. Maddie's 'exceptionally good mood' might have ordinarily been attributed to the spell they were learning, but Luna had not yet tried to cheer her up. "It's not the wrackspurts again, is it?"

"No," Maddie said, focusing hard and then saying, "_Facio Hilarem._"

A small grin spread across Luna's face.

"Excellent work, Miss Lewis!" Professor Flitwick said from where he stood on his desk. "Well done!"

She smiled politely back at him, then turned to Luna. "Your turn."

Luna, too, concentrated hard and said, "_Facio Hilarem_," though with less success than Maddie had; she suddenly had a very uplifting feeling in her gut, but there was no outward changes. "Did that work at all?"

"A bit," she said, nodding.

"I imagine it'd be hard for it to work a lot with the mood that you're in. Why are you so happy, anyway?"

"I'm just...looking forward to Ancient Runes."

_What a horrible lie. _She wished, just for once, she could tell someone that Cedric caused her great moods. She wished that she could just finally tell Luna and Ginny, at the very least, the truth. Neither of them had any idea, so far as she could tell. Amber and Allison, Sierra and Boo, they didn't know, either. Only Cedric's friend Joseph knew—and that was because they wouldn't have been together in the first place if it wasn't for him. She frankly was starting to grow tired of having to sneak around school with him and only be with him in secret. What kind of a relationship was that if they couldn't show the world that they were happy?

Luna didn't question Maddie's answer; it was a shared opinion with her and Ginny that, despite how patient, friendly, and loyal Maddie really was, she would have been better suited as a Ravenclaw, she was so studious and eager to learn.

The class ended not long after, and Maddie had earned five points for Hufflepuff for being the first to effectively use the charm on her partner. Their homework, Professor Flitwick had said, was to write an essay on the history of the charm, due the following week, and at least a foot of parchment in length.

"A foot!" Amber cried bitterly as they exited the classroom. "Well, then, I suppose _I'm _not writing in the margins."

"Do you ever?" Allison asked as they continued on to their next class.

"Well, no. I suppose I'll just have to copy off Maddie."

This was a joke, but Maddie was the only one not laughing. "Perhaps you'd better do your own homework."

"Easy for you to say. You're a genius! All the teachers just _love _you, even Professor Snape."

"No, he doesn't," she said, thinking about his class—they would have him the following day after lunch with the Gryffindors. Then she would be able to see Ginny for the first time in what felt like ages. This wasn't true; they had classes together nearly every day, but they hadn't had a serious conversation in a while. Perhaps that night she'd be able to convince Cedric to just let her tell her close friends about them; she was practically bursting with eagerness.

She knew he had good intentions when it came to this secret; he usually did. After all, he was just concerned about how others would perceive the relationship, and with good reason. How exactly would the school take it to know that Cedric, who was of age, was dating a third year?

If it hadn't been Maddie in that situation, she might have found it uncomfortable. But when it came to Cedric, nothing ever felt uncomfortable. Everything felt one hundred percent right.

* * *

><p>Maddie finished her Ancient Runes quiz early, and spent the rest of the class period daydreaming. She couldn't wait to get back to the common room before dinner. Perhaps then she'd be able to talk to Cedric about the possibility of them going public with their relationship, or at the very least telling their friends about it.<p>

When the class was finally dismissed, she met up with Allison and Amber on their way to the common room. It was time for dinner, but the three of them wanted to drop off their things in their dormitory before they went to eat.

They had deposited their bags in their room and were going back down to the common room when Maddie saw Cedric entering. Alone.

It was the perfect opportunity for her to bring up the whole secret thing with him, so she smiled to herself. "Hold on a moment," she whispered to her friends as they approached him, then she said, in her sweetest voice, "Hi, Cedric!"

He looked up at her, apparently shocked that somebody was speaking to him, but he relaxed seeing who it was—a bit too much. "Hi," he said back, as though this was a stranger, then immediately looked away.

Maddie frowned. Something was very, very wrong. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

He glanced up at her again. "Er—no, everything's fine."

As though the voice wasn't enough to give it away, he turned away once again and bit his lip as soon as the word 'fine' rolled out of his mouth—never a good sign. "Cedric, you're lying to me."

He looked up at her with a hurt expression on his face. This time, he didn't break eye contact, and he continued to look at her, wondering how in the world she was able to catch him in a lie so often, so well, and so _easily._ "We need to talk," he finally said, then glanced at her friends. "Privately."

Maddie's heart suddenly began to pound in her ears, but she turned to her friends and said, "I'll be right back," and followed him over to an empty corner of the common room. From what she could tell, 'we need to talk' was never a good sign. As her heart continued to pound, she tried to pull up a mental list of everything that could possibly be wrong. What was going on?

"What is it?" she asked in a shaky voice.

He took a deep breath and sighed, immediately jumping into it. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Maddie, I'm so sorry..."

"Why? What happened?"

He shut his eyes tight. _This is really happening. _Finally looking at her again, he sighed and said, "I didn't mean for it to happen, really. I'm so sorry. But..." He took another deep breath before he continued. "But I was in Hogsmeade this weekend."

She frowned. He was in Hogsmeade? Her friends had been telling the truth? In a still shaky voice, she asked, "What? But I thought you said..."

"I know what I said. And, well, the reason I was there was...oh, Merlin, Maddie, I'm so sorry. Really, I am. I'm so, so sorry..."

"Cedric, you're scaring me. What is it?"

He looked at her, seeing the hurt in her eyes, and could hardly stand it. Good Lord, she was never going to speak to him again once he came out with it, and frankly, he didn't think he would blame her. He had been so horrible to her. He didn't deserve to even be in her presence, it was that horrible.

"I was there...with another girl...on a date."

She stared at him as though he was speaking another language. "I'm sorry?" she asked, as though she couldn't possibly hear him correctly.

It killed him to repeat it, but he took another deep breath and said again, "I was on a date."

Realization suddenly crossed her face. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes grew double their size; what little color was ordinarily in her face suddenly vanished and it almost appeared that she was shaking all over. Her lower lip quivered; he was afraid that she was going to cry, and he didn't know if he could handle that. Unbeknownst to him, her heart suddenly stopped beating. "You _cheated _on me?"

It was ten times more difficult to hear it from her than it was for him to say it. He nodded, avoiding eye contact once again, and said, in a genuine tone, "Maddie, I'm so sorry..."

"With who?"

She said it so quietly that at first he didn't register that she had spoke at all. But it suddenly clicked and he looked up at her, and she was expecting an answer. "What?"

"_Who was it?_"

"Cho Chang."

"Cho Chang?" she repeated. It was finally her turn to break eye contact. She knew that name... Wasn't she the Ravenclaw Seeker on the Quidditch team? Yes, that was her. She had long black hair and beautiful brown eyes, and she was just so..._gorgeous. _And popular, and close to Cedric in age... Everything that Maddie wasn't.

"I'm so sorry," he said for the umpteenth time. "Oh, please, don't cry..."

Maddie suddenly looked up at him, unaware that she _had _been crying at all. She, too, took a deep breath. Now that she was aware of her tears, they suddenly would not stop coming. By now, she was sobbing. "What happened?"

"I swear, it was an accident..."

"An _accident?_" Her tone of voice cut straight through him like a knife. "You _accidentally _cheated on me? Is that what you're saying?"

"Look, I didn't realize what I was doing..."

"Well, what _were _you doing?"

He stopped, thinking back to the moment that he agreed to see Cho in Hogsmeade. "I was going to Defense Against the Dark Arts the other day, and she was leaving it, and she just pulled me aside and asked if I'd meet her at Madam Puddifoot's at a certain time. I didn't even realize what she was asking me—it wasn't until after I agreed and she walked away that I realized what I'd done..."

"So you didn't even think to cancel on her?"

"I know..." She was sobbing so hard. God, the last thing he wanted was for her to be upset... If she could only see just how much this was killing him, too. Being with Cho was _nothing _like being with Maddie. Nothing at all...

Cedric reached out a hand to put on her shoulder, and she immediately shrugged it off, stepping away from him as a group of students entered.

"_Don't touch me,_" she snapped, sobbing so hard that her chest was heaving with each painful breath that she took. She assumed that the students were out of earshot—and even if they weren't, she really didn't care—so she snapped at him, "Did you tell her you weren't going to see her again afterwards?"

"Er..." _God dammit, Cedric, you're an idiot. _"No, that never came up."

"You didn't even tell her about us?"

"No."

"Well, you have to tell her _now!_"

"I can't do that."

She stared at him looking so hurt that he immediately wished he hadn't said that. He wished he could just hug her, hold her in his arms and calm her down... But more than anything, he wished he hadn't done it in the first place. He was only minutely aware of the people that had been standing in the doorway approaching them, but in that moment, he really didn't care; she looked like she was done with the conversation.

"Maddie, I didn't mean it like that..." he said, but she turned and immediately ran off in the direction of the girls' dormitories, and he made to follow her, hoping to stop her before she got too far. "Maddie, please listen to me..."

With that, she spun around, her sobs ten times worse than they had been in the conversation. She looked so hurt that it hurt _him _just to look at her. And then, she yelled at him, so loud that pretty much everyone in the common room turned to look at them, "_How could you do this to me?_"

He just stared back at her in disbelief—and anguish—as though he didn't even know the answer. Seeing that he wasn't going to respond, she sobbed again and turned back to the girls' dormitories, running up the stairs to her room.

"Cedric?" The voice belonged to John, but Cedric didn't turn to look at him; he was too shocked to do much of anything. At that, Maddie's friend Amber darted around him and ran up the stairs after her, and Allison followed suit.

He muttered an expletive under his breath and turned and went to his own dorm, shoving his way past his friends and two of Maddie's that had just turned up, seemingly out of nowhere.

Joseph watched him walk away, doing the math in his head. "Cedric!" he yelled angrily as he went. "Cedric, come back here!"

Cedric was going up the stairs as fast as he could, bitter and angry—with himself. God, he was such an _idiot..._ He would never deserve Maddie's love, not as long as he lived. He didn't even deserve her friendship... He could hear footsteps following him up the stairs, but he ignored it. The sooner he got to his dorm, the better.

It was when he was halfway up that he heard Joseph's voice calling, "Cedric, listen to me!"

"Go away," he snapped back. "Just _go away._"

"Not until you talk to me!"

Cedric flung their door open, ignoring Joseph's voice completely as he went. In the comfort of their dorm, he ripped his robes off, flinging them on the bed, as Joseph asked, "Cedric, what was that about? You know you..."

"_It was none of your business, okay?_" he snapped, turning to look at Joseph and appearing very red in the face.

Joseph doubled back in surprise, but was not fazed by this outburst at all. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

"Look, I was just trying to have a civil conversation with her, okay?"

_Civil?_ He didn't buy this for a second. "Well, what did you '_civilly_' tell her?" Cedric didn't answer. "It's none of my business, I'm guessing? Well, with that outburst from her, I'm pretty sure it's _everyone's _business at this point. And it definitely will be everyone's business when she's hurt..."

"_I cheated on her, okay?_"

Joseph suddenly stopped talking; he definitely had not anticipated this response. "You did _what?_"

"_You heard me, I cheated on her. I went on a date with Cho Chang behind her_ _back._" He waited a moment for this to sink in, then he added,_ "_I know it was stupid, and I shouldn't have done it, but I tried to apologize, and you saw what happened."

"Cedric, you didn't."

"_I did! _Why the bloody hell would I tell you that I did if I didn't?"

Joseph could feel his own anger bubbling up inside of him. "Cedric, you don't just _do that _to people! Especially not her! You don't do that to her! She's..."

"She's what? Never going to speak to me again? Because I bloody well know that!"

"Tell me what happened."

"I _told you _what happened! Cho Chang asked if I'd go on a date with her, and I said yes without thinking, and I felt _so bloody guilty _about it the entire time!"

"So why didn't you say anything?"

"What did you want me to say?" He started towards the door.

"And where in the name of Merlin do you think you're going?"

"To dinner?" he said, as though it were obvious. "Won't it look bloody suspicious if one of us is there and the other isn't?"

"One of us?"

"For God's sake, Joseph, do you really think that she's going to go dinner after what just happened? Do you _really _think she would do that?" Cedric walked closer and closer to Joseph, practically getting in his face. "I know it was dumb of me, okay? I _know _that. But I did it, and I can't change it, and I tried to apologize, but she wouldn't listen to it."

"Well, good. I don't think you deserve to have her listen to it. It just amazes me that you care more about your precious ego than you do for her."

Cedric, who had tried to walk out in disgust when Joseph said he didn't deserve to have her listen to him, suddenly stopped and spun around. "_Excuse me?_"

"You heard me. That's all it's ever been between you two. 'Listen, Maddie, I really fancy you, but not if everyone knows about it. We'd better keep it a secret so that nobody makes fun of me for dating you.'"

Cedric's disgust with himself suddenly turned to rage hearing Joseph say that. "That's not what this is about, and you know it!"

"Oh, it isn't, is it?" Joseph folded his arms over his chest. "Then why do you have to sneak around in order to be with her? Why is it that when Edward and Liam were asking you about girls, her name didn't come up at all and instead _you lied to them _about her? Why is it that I'm the only person in this bloody school other than you and Maddie that even _knew _how you felt about her? Assuming that you actually ever did care about her?"

"I _do _care about her!"

"Really? Because in my opinion, if you care about someone, you don't do things like _this _to them. You let everyone know that you care about them. You treat them with respect. _You don't act like you care about another person more than them, and you don't treat your ego like a person, either._"

"What is that even supposed to mean?"

"If you really cared about her, and this wasn't just an ego boost, as soon as you realized what you signed up for, _you should have told Cho about Maddie._"

"I should have told her? I should have said to Cho, 'Hey, you're a great girl and all, but I have a girlfriend already? And she just so happens to be a child'? You expect me to say that?"

"She's not a child, and you know it!"

"_That's what everyone would think if I told them!_"

"Why do you care so much about what everyone else thinks? Why can't you, for _five seconds_, just stop caring about what other people think?"

"I only care about what other people think if it's going to hurt her!"

"Really? Because from what I'm seeing, _you _hurt her."

"Stop saying that!"

"Do you even know what today is, Cedric?"

"How could I possibly know what today is?"

"It's your _one year anniversary._"

Cedric was suddenly shocked to the core. He didn't figure Joseph was lying, especially not with that angry look on his face. How did his best friend remember and he didn't? Is that why she had tried to talk to him in the common room? "Is that _today?_"

"See? You _don't _care about her. If you really gave a damn about Maddie, you wouldn't have had to tell Cho about it, _because you wouldn't have cheated on her!_"

Cedric had never actually been in an argument with Joseph before; seeing him so heated at this point was perhaps the most frightening thing he had ever seen in his life. For half a moment, he considered backing down—but he was very curious to see what he had to say.

"I _do _give a damn about her! You know I do!"

"I'm not so sure you do! Why is that throughout this conversation, I haven't heard you say her name _once?_"

"That's completely irrelevant—"

"Is it?" Joseph looked so disgusted with Cedric that he wondered whether he was going to lose _two _friends that day, instead of just one. What really scared him was that Joseph suddenly seemed so _calm. _His voice was even and much quieter than it had been; it was almost as though they were discussing the weather. "Because it breaks my heart to see this happen to you two. To see this happen to _Maddie._ She cares about you in ways that I cannot even _fathom._ And this month alone, you've hurt her more than I ever imagined possible. If you honestly thought people would judge you for _loving someone,_ then you really shouldn't have led her on like this."

"I wasn't 'leading her on', first off, and second, I'm not so sure I love anyone..."

"Precisely why you were leading her on. Don't pretend that you care about her, because if you really did, this wouldn't have happened." Cedric opened his mouth to protest. "I know what you're thinking, so don't say it. I'm still going to be your friend, because I really think you could use the guidance. And good luck with Cho. If you're base enough to cheat _with _someone, you can cheat _on _them. Frankly, I thought you were in this house for a reason—because you were _friendly, just, honest, loyal..._"

He stopped then, seeing the look of hurt on Cedric's face. He obviously had no response for this. "Well, like I said, good luck with Cho. I just hope that while you're with her, you're thinking about all the pain that you're putting Maddie through."

With that, he opened the door and walked out.

Cedric collapsed on his bed once the door shut, knowing that he had not only completely destroyed Maddie, but he had also officially ruined his own life.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, wasn't that fun? *grins evilly* I'm awaiting the death threats now. I feel like those of you who have this story favorited or on alert are suddenly going to come out of the woodwork to leave me angry reviews and threatening PMs. Sorry this chapter was so long, too, it actually wasn't that bad until Cedric and Joseph started arguing. And trust me, things are going to get better.<strong>

**Also, I'm going to assume nobody left me reviews or PMs saying they wanted to be my friend because they're intimidated by me, I'm sure. Just kidding someone please be my friend- I understand if after this update you don't want to do that, though. I hate myself for doing it...but hey, like I said, I've been planning this story for four years, and this has been in my plan the entire time. That is why the warning 'Cedric OOC' is in the description.**

**So who wants to guess my name?! :D I promised to tell anyone who would be my friend, but I am obviously not going to be making very many friends lol, and also I'm bored. (I'll give you all a hint each chapter just for funsies and if nobody guesses it by the end of the story I'll just tell everyone what it is because I have no life-) The first hint is that my name starts with the letter 'n'.**

**Also, the next update can be expected on Tuesday, December 10. Hopefully, you'll all stick around to then. :)**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	10. The First Task

It seemed like everywhere that Harry went, somebody either had to offer congratulations, or they had a bone to pick with him.

Those offering congratulations...who did they think they were kidding? For the most part, they were simply misguided Gryffindors, who—for some ungodly reason—thought that he stood a chance against Krum or Cedric. Harry didn't even stand a chance against _Fleur,_ who walked with so much grace and poise that it was hard to imagine her ever in a tournament such as this. It certainly didn't help when he was offered congratulations and pride in front of one of them; the other day, Krum had been walking down the hall with a group of girls following him when Carter Ganzby, a seventh year Gryffindor who had entered his own name, came up and congratulated him, saying that with two champions, "A Hogwarts victory is imminent!" The girls following Krum had to laugh at this.

And what made matters worse was that Krum and Cedric _looked _the part of champion. Krum's appearance really went without saying—he was so tall and burly, and he always wore an expression that made him appear to want to murder everyone in his vicinity. At least, that was how Harry saw it, though he was sure this was far from the truth. But then there was Cedric, who too was tall and muscular, though not as built as Krum was. And he was handsome. After his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, girls started to follow him around too, all over school. Cedric tried to be courteous back to them—he was just so _Hufflepuff _like—but he seemed a bit overwhelmed by the attention.

Harry's attention was either congratulations or taunts, rude looks and comments...

It wasn't all that bad until Harry saw Malfoy wearing one of the 'Potter Stinks' badges when he left class one day.

He not only noticed Malfoy wearing them, but his friends, too: Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson... And all of the Hufflepuffs wore them as well: Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley... All of them. Some of the Ravenclaws occasionally had a badge pinned to their robes, but Slytherin and Hufflepuff was where the real trouble was at.

"Potter!" a tall Hufflepuff called, laughing as Harry tried to maneuver his way through the crowd on his way back from Potions. "Potter, do you like my badge?"

He had pressed into his chest, showing off a picture of Cedric Diggory's face with the words 'Support Cedric Diggory: The Real Hogwarts Champion' emblazoned above him.

"Hey, Harry, look at this!" a Ravenclaw girl said, revealing that she had _many _badges pinned to her robes, alternating between the two faces of the pins: one badge had Cedric's face, then the next said 'Potter Stinks', then Cedric, then 'Potter Stinks'...

Harry continued walking, but he could hear Malfoy behind him, saying, "I only wish I had more of them to pawn off, it would make a pretty Sickle if I sold some of them..."

And with all the loud laughter added onto this...well, Harry couldn't take it anymore, so he ducked into the first door that he saw, not really caring where he ended up at.

This, he regretted almost immediately, upon seeing that it was a girls' lavatory. It was after a moment that he realized the bathroom was completely empty, which was something of an anomaly at Hogwarts, and the only sound in the entire room was the sound of somebody crying. This was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Nobody would want to come in here; he was safe for the time being.

It was then that he realized that the crying he heard wasn't Moaning Myrtle's usual wails. These were softer, but somehow more despaired. And this was sobbing, not the usual moans that made Myrtle, well...moaning. He carefully inched forward to see where it was coming from when his thoughts were confirmed; Myrtle glided out of her usual stall, giggling as she saw Harry.

"Ooh, she's awful," she said to him, continuing to laugh. "The _pretty boy _hurt the _pretty lonely girly_..." And she giggled once more before flying off again.

Harry stared straight ahead in confusion; what was this supposed to mean? As he tried to figure it out, the sound of crying subsided—from the sound of Myrtle's voice, no doubt—and the door to one of the stalls opened. Out walked a girl, probably close to Harry in age, with bloodshot eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses, and blonde hair that clung to her wet face. Somehow, she looked so familiar, but Harry was sure that if he had ever seen her before, she probably looked a bit more...put together than she did in that moment. She doubled back in surprise when she saw him.

"What are you doing in here?" she snapped in a shaking voice. "This is the girls' lavatory!"

He wanted to apologize, but there was a more pressing issue at hand: "Have you been crying?"

Her eyes doubled in size and she suddenly reached up to dry one of them before saying, "That's none of your business! What are you doing in here?"

"I...didn't realize it was a bathroom," Harry said. "I was just going to be leaving...but are you sure you're alright?"

"That's none of your business," she repeated. Harry looked at her shirt and realized, in surprise, that she was a Hufflepuff (the tie gave it away), but she wasn't wearing one of the badges that the rest of her house wore.

"You look like you've been crying." She opened her mouth to object, but Harry crossed to her, tapping her glasses with his fingers. "Your glasses gave you away...I know the feeling," he finished with a half hearted grin. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

She ignored his question, going to the sink and turning it on, removing her glasses and splashing her face with water. As she did so, instinctively Harry reached out and picked up the spectacles, drying them on his shirt. When she reached for them, he pressed them into her hand, saying, "Here. I figured you already had enough to deal with, without having to clean your glasses."

She nodded, looking away from him. He could tell what she wanted to say without her having to say it: _Thank you._ He nodded in response, as though to say _you're welcome._

"Well, we both seem to be having a rotten time," he said, sighing.

"Misery likes company," she said back.

"Yeah? You want me to keep you company?" Anything would be better than having to face the rest of the school.

"Well...I haven't had much since..." She stopped talking suddenly.

"Before you get any farther," Harry said, a few moments after her abrupt stop, "it'd be a little odd if we were to continue this conversation without properly knowing each other, wouldn't it?" He reached out a hand to her. "Harry Potter."

She took it hesitantly, as though it were a bomb, and shook it. "I know." Like he had to introduce himself to _anyone._ "Maddie Lewis."

Ah, he _did _know her. She had gone to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys and Diggorys; she had been very close with Ginny. He wondered whether she was friends with her; he must have seen her more than just the one time for her to leave such a lasting impression.

"Nice to meet you."

"I'd say the same to you, but...we're in a bathroom."

He laughed, though he probably ordinarily wouldn't have found it funny. "What year are you?" he asked at long last.

"Third. You're friends with Ginny's brother, aren't you? Her brother Ron? Ginny's one of my best friends."

Well, that confirmed that. He nodded back in response. "And you were at the Quidditch World Cup, weren't you?" She nodded to this, too. "So, uh...Maddie, right?" And again, she nodded. "Maddie. What are you doing crying in a bathroom?"

She frowned, looking away from him as she spoke in what couldn't even be described as a whisper. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Try me."

She sighed, leaning against a bathroom stall and slid down it, so that she was sitting on the floor. He, too, sat down cross legged across from her, waiting. Rather than respond, however, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, as though trying to remember how to breathe. Just when he was going to ask if she was going to say something, she said, "Not all of us in Hufflepuff support Cedric, you know."

"I was going to ask about that, actually," he said before he could stop himself. "I mean, you haven't said anything..._rude _to me, like the others."

"That's not what our house is about." She finally looked at him, looking extremely exhausted. "Well, I suppose that's why they're doing it, because people think that you cheated. We kind of resent that in Hufflepuff." She frowned then, as though this had something to do with why she was upset.

"So, you don't support Cedric?"

She laughed once, but it sounded like she was bitter, angry at something—the world, perhaps? She finally just shook her head.

"Why? Do you...know him?"

"I thought I did."

That was when it suddenly hit him; not only was she close with Ginny at the Quidditch game, she also had been sandwiched between her and Cedric. They had seemed very fond of one another's company, but not _too _fond. They probably were very close friends, and from the sounds of her voice, something had happened between them. A fight, perhaps, or maybe just a falling out due to the tournament.

"Is he why you were crying?"

She nodded, unable to meet his gaze. "If I tell you what I have to say, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone about this," she said. "And I can't promise that you'll believe what I have to say, either."

"What is it?"

She took a deep breath, looking at him as though she didn't even believe what she was about to say. "Cedric was my best friend. He was more than that. He..." She paused, trying to gather courage it seemed, before she finally finished the thought. "He was my boyfriend."

Harry stared at her in confusion—not such a bad sight, since she had incredibly pretty eyes. Her? In a relationship with _him?_ She was right. He didn't believe what she was saying. With Cedric being as popular as he was, wouldn't he have heard of this before? Or at least seen them together? Wouldn't anyone have done that?

"I—oh," he said at last.

"I know what you're thinking. We never really told anyone. He thought it'd be _better _that way." This was where the resentment came out. She sounded absolutely disgusted with this, though Harry didn't really blame her. At the same time, though, he couldn't help but wonder. What would a sixth year want with a thirteen-year-old girl? And if it was true, what would have happened between them that made her have such an animosity?

"Did you say 'was'?"

She grimaced. "He cheated on me."

There was a poignant silence as Harry realized that Maddie was right; he really didn't believe her. Cedric just didn't seem like that kind of person. But then, she _was _in Hufflepuff, and they were supposed to be honest, weren't they? And nothing else about her suggested that she was lying... But Cedric was a Hufflepuff, too.

"Oh," he finally said, deciding that he believed her. "I—I'm sorry."

"_I'm_ sorry that I thought I could trust him." Suddenly, a look of guilt clouded over her face. "Actually, I'm sorry I'm unloading all of this on you...especially when we only just properly met."

Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I don't really have many friends at the moment..." The statement had left his mouth before he could think to stop it, and with it out in the open, he instantly regretted it.

She frowned. "Well, we're in the same predicament, then. I don't really have that many friends, either. But didn't you say that you were friends with Ginny's brother, Ron?"

"Was." He hoped this would stave off further questions, but she obviously wasn't placated by this response.

"What happened?"

He looked at her in a new light. Here was a stranger—somebody that he didn't really know existed until just minutes earlier—and yet they were able to share with each other so easily, like they were long lost friends or something. He couldn't imagine why, but he really just wanted to keep talking to her. She seemed like a nice enough person.

"Well—Ron kind of believes what the rest of _your _house believes. That I entered yourself in the tournament. But I didn't."

"Well, of course you didn't," she said, but what surprised Harry was that she said this not in a sarcastic way, but in a way that sounded genuine.

"You—you believe me, then?"

She nodded. "You'd have to be _mental _to put your name in the Goblet of Fire. That's what I told Cedric, too."

He suddenly found a new feeling of hope. Perhaps not everyone in the school believed he was trying to steal Cedric's glory. He was just trying to _survive _by that point. Survive school, survive the wave of students who didn't believe his claim, survive the tournament...

"Sorry, speaking of Cedric," he said, happy to change the subject, "you said he cheated on you? Do you know who with?"

She seemed a little bit hurt by this question (_way to go, Harry,_ he thought), but she answered him still: "Cho Chang."

Harry knew who this was. She was a year above him and was in Ravenclaw, and she was the Seeker for the Quidditch Team. She was also extremely pretty, and likely just as intelligent—at least, he assumed so, considering where she was sorted.

"I'm sorry," he said, unable to say much else. "And why exactly were you crying in the bathroom?"

"I know no one would bother me here," she said. "No one ever comes in here. Well, except for you."

"Sorry about that," he said, suddenly realizing how often he was saying sorry. "I was just...trying to avoid them."

"I know the feeling."

"You do?"

"Well, I mean...I'm not exactly the most popular girl around. I don't really have too many friends outside of the girls in my dorm—and one of them, I'm not exactly close to. I mean, I have Ginny, and this other girl that lives nearby, and I _did _have Cedric, but none of his friends really seemed to care too much for me. Not that they even really knew about us in the first place. But he never did much to stand up for me."

The more that Harry heard about Cedric, the less he was beginning to like him. "You know what I think?" She looked up at him curiously, waiting for him to finish the thought. "I think that he's just a waste of your time."

"I'm starting to think that, too," she said. "I'm just sad it took me this long to realize it. And it's a bit...painful. I mean, he was one of my best friends..."

"Well, you know what? You've got me now. We can be friends, can't we?"

Finally, her face erupted into a smile and she nodded. "I'd like that very much, actually."

They stayed in the bathroom chatting for a little while longer (Harry ignoring the fact that the setting made it so awkward), and their conversation grew more and more uplifting and hopeful as they moved away from the more depressing topics. Out of nowhere, though, she said something about dragons and that sparked a memory in Harry's head...

_Dragons._

_The Tournament._

"You know," he said, interrupting her, causing her to stop suddenly and look at him, "the first task of the Tournament is coming up."

"I know...what about it?"

"Dragons. That's the first task."

She frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

He nodded, continuing on, "They've got one for each of us. There's a Common Welsh Green, and a Chinese Fireball, and a Hungarian Horntail..."

She suddenly paled, although her skin was already ghostly white. "Are you sure?"

He nodded again. "Positive. I saw them myself." He could remember clearly this moment, the feeling of fear struck into his being as Hagrid showed him the four colossal beasts. He grimaced as he thought of the way that the four of them had breathed fire, and he could feel his skin prickling at this vivid memory.

"Do—do the other champions know?"

That, he had to think about. He was sure that Madame Maxime probably told Fleur about it, and Professor Karkaroff probably showed Krum, the same way that Hagrid had showed Harry. But he doubted whether Cedric knew.

"Fleur and Krum do," he nodded.

Her frown deepened. "But not Cedric?"

"No, I don't think so."

"You have to tell him," she said. He must have looked hesitant, so she added, "Not for me, but because it's only fair, isn't it? If the three of you really do know that you have to face a dragon and he doesn't, then it isn't very fair. You three would have an unfair advantage in the task."

He supposed this was logical, but at the same time, he felt angry at Cedric. Angry at Cedric for _her._ Did he really deserve to know about the dragons if he had done something so cruel to someone he supposedly cared about? Against his better judgment, he nodded and said, "Yeah—yeah, I'll tell him."

At that moment, Moaning Myrtle glided out from wherever she was hiding and started to laugh once again. "Oh, isn't this touching?" she said. "The _pretty girly _has got _two_ champions..."

"Go away, Myrtle," Harry said, rising to his full height. "This isn't any of your business, is it?"

Myrtle suddenly seemed very offended and burst into loud wails, disappearing out of sight. Harry was a bit taken aback; he hadn't said anything too mean to her. But then, this particular ghost was overly sensitive, and just as quickly as she had come, she was gone, and the loud wails disappeared as she flushed herself down the drain.

"Do you know her?"

Maddie's voice caught him off guard, and he turned to see her standing upright, too.

"I—sorry?"

"Do you know Myrtle? You mentioned her by name."

"This isn't my first time in here," he said, a bit embarrassed. Seeing her puzzled expression, he added, "A bit of illegal Polyjuice in my second year. Anyway," he said, desperate to change the subject, "it's been nice meeting you. You wouldn't mind talking to me again in the future, would you?"

She shook her head. "Not at all."

At long last, they exited the bathroom together before going their separate ways. Harry wasn't sure what had caused him to trust Maddie so willingly and so openly, but the more he talked to her, the more he felt a connection with her. It was like she said when they first met—misery likes company. Neither one of them really had the world in their favor at that moment, but they both did have one thing: they had each other.

* * *

><p>Cedric paced nervously in the tent as he prepared to go out to fight the dragon. He was practically shaking all over, and he just couldn't calm himself down. It had been a rough couple of weeks for him as he prepared to begin the Triwizard Tournament. Everywhere he went, a group of girls—five of them, give or take—would follow him all over. It didn't really matter where he was; the only place he could get some privacy was in his dorm room and in the prefect's bathroom. And even there, he would sometimes run into more girls as he exited. There definitely wasn't quiet in the common room, either, though there were two girls in Hufflepuff that were ignoring him: Eleanor, who was angry that he entered his name in the Goblet of Fire ("I thought you were protesting the cancellation of Quidditch! But this is a funny way of protesting!"); and Maddie.<p>

He would never forgive himself for what he did to her, and the fact that he couldn't bring himself to tell Cho the truth just made it worse. Especially seeing how _happy _the second girl was around him. He hated to see other people unhappy, and though Maddie never seemed to be happy anymore, seeing Cho smile and giggle gave him a bit of an uplifting feeling. The only problem was that he had hurt the person closest to him, and had caused another to never look at him the same way.

He recalled the last time that he and Joseph had gotten into a fight, which was the very day that Harry informed him about the dragons. They were in Potions, and Joseph was watching Cedric struggle with his cauldron, a look of disdain on his face.

After fifteen minutes of intense glares, Cedric finally looked up at Joseph. "_What?_"

"Just wondering when you're going to realize that you're stirring that wrong."

He looked at the textbook, where the fourth step clearly said to stir the potion seventeen times _counterclockwise_; he was stirring it clockwise.

"If you're so brilliant, then what are you waiting for?" he snapped as he attempted to fix the damage.

"Step seven."

Cedric (a bit appalled that Joseph was already that far ahead) looked at his textbook again, which said to let the potion simmer for eight minutes. He looked back up at Joseph again, who had a wristwatch sitting on the table, presumably to time how long he let his concoction simmer for.

"You can stop acting like you're better than me at any time, you know," Cedric said. "I already feel guilty enough."

"Who said I was acting like I was better than you?"

"It doesn't need saying."

Joseph groaned. "Look, if this is about the way I've been treating you because of Maddie..."

"That's _precisely _what this is about. That's all you _ever _talk to me about. I know I messed up, okay? I already have to live with the guilt..."

"I just can't believe that _you_ of all people would do that to someone."

"Well, believe it, because it happened. And it's not something I'm proud of, but it's something that I can't change."

"Is it that you can't change _that _or that _you _can't change?"

Cedric was about ready to snap at Joseph, but it was a wasted effort, as his watch started to beep and he immediately went on to step number eight as though the exchange had never happened. Professor Snape was walking around the room, observing how students were doing, and when he approached their table, he said, sounding rather bored, "Excellent work, Mr. Dawson. You're the farthest ahead in the class. Five points for Hufflepuff." He then approached Cedric and looked a bit taken aback by what he saw. "Mr. Diggory, could you please tell me why your cauldron appears to be frozen?"

There was frost forming around the bottom of the black pewter cauldron and Cedric could feel himself turning red. This was definitely not the way things were supposed to look. "I, uh—I think I was stirring clockwise instead of counterclockwise, actually."

"Ah. I see. Well, this won't be any good, then. It is—at this point—unfixable." And with a wave of his wand, he emptied Cedric's cauldron. "I recommend that you start again. If you hurry, you may be able to create something by the end of class."

Cedric grumbled to himself about the unfairness of it all, and when he looked up, Joseph seemed to have the hint of a smug smile on his face. He was therefore angry for the rest of class, barely finished his potion in time, and when the bell finally rang, he practically sprinted out of the room, his head spinning something terrible.

As he was turning a corner, he could hear a voice calling behind him: "Hey—Cedric?"

He turned, seeing Harry Potter struggle to catch up with him. "Hi," he said, trying not to let his voice show his true emotions. "How are you?"

Harry didn't answer, wasting no time as he said, "I need to have a word with you."

Cedric frowned, leading him to an abandoned corner across the hall. "What is it?"

"The first task is dragons."

"What?"

"Dragons. They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."

Cedric could feel his heart stop beating. _Dragons?_

"Are you sure?" he asked in a hushed voice

Harry nodded. "Dead sure. I've seen them. We're going to have to—fight them, or something."

"But how did you find out?" Cedric asked, his heart starting to beat again but about five times faster than normal as he thought about it. _Dragons. _"We're not supposed to know..."

"Never mind. But I'm not the only one who knows. Fleur and Krum probably know by now." His voice suggested that perhaps he had some outside help of some kind, but Cedric didn't think that Harry would be saying anything if he didn't think it was true. No, he was certain that it _was _true...which was what terrified him.

"Why are you telling me?"

Harry seemed to be fighting for a reason, but he finally said, "I thought it'd only be fair to tell you, too."

"Alright. Well—thanks, for telling me."

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

He started to walk off, but Cedric stopped him by calling out to him. "Hey—Harry?"

It was Harry's turn to stop to look at Cedric, who seemed like he was trying to help him in some way, too. "About the badges," he said, his voice sounding as uncomfortable as Harry felt. "I've asked them not to wear them."

Harry nodded again. "Right. Thanks." He walked off again, thinking to himself that maybe, just maybe, Cedric wasn't such a bad person.

Cedric was brought out of his thoughts as Professor Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman entered the room. Bagman was holding a bag in his hands, and Dumbledore was calling them all over to him.

"Well, now that we're all here—time to fill you in!" Bagman said. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag"—he held up the small bag, which was made of purple silk (Dumbledore's choosing, no doubt), and shook it—"from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different—er—varieties, you see."

Cedric forced back a laugh. Bagman was obviously tiptoeing around any indications that they were facing a dragon, which was a moot point, seeing as Harry had told him about the dragons and stated that Fleur and Krum already knew.

"And I have to tell you something else, too...ah, yes...your task is to _collect the golden egg!_"

Cedric nodded once and immediately began to pace, feeling like he was going to be sick. _Collect a golden egg? _From a _dragon?_ Were they trying to _kill _the four of them? No wonder there was a minimum age requirement; it was like Maddie had said, the tournament was extremely risky. But then, he had voluntarily entered his name in...

In next to no time at all, Bagman was opening the purple sack as voices were heard outside of the tent. Surely, the three schools were gathering to watch the task, and that meant that Cedric, Harry, Fleur, and Krum would have to go face the beasts. Cedric focused on breathing, trying to maintain a steady rhythm. _Breathe in, breathe out...breathe in, breathe out..._

"Ladies first," Bagman said, offering the bag to Fleur.

She reached into the bag with a shaky hand and pulled out a miniscule, moving model of the Common Welsh Green. It had a tag around its neck that had the number '2' emblazoned on it. Harry had been right, as Fleur looked hardly surprised when she looked at the tiny dragon. She obviously knew this was coming.

"And now you, Viktor," Bagman said, offering the bag to Krum.

He, too, apparently knew about the task, as he didn't even blink when he pulled out a small model of a Chinese Fireball. This one had the number '3' around its neck.

"Mr. Diggory," Bagman said, offering the bag to Cedric.

Taking a deep breath, he reached in and grabbed onto a dragon model, which bit him in protest. He bit his tongue to keep from gasping out in surprise, and pulled out the smallest Swedish Short-Snout that he had ever seen, a '1' around its neck. When it was finally Harry's turn, he took out a Hungarian Horntail, which had donned the number '4'.

Cedric was starting to wonder what the numbers meant when Bagman said, "Well, there you are! You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see?" Cedric suddenly felt his stomach turn to ice. He was going first. "I'm going to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Diggory, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right?"

He tried to nod, but his heart was hammering in his chest. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, gripping it as though his life depended on it (which it very well might) and tried to think of some sort of strategy to keeping the dragon occupied as he tackled the egg. He paced again around the tent, feeling his heart stop beating once he heard the whistle that Bagman spoke about, and with shaky legs, he walked into the enclosure.

The crowd started to cheer as he looked at the beast head on for the first time. It was downright terrifying to see a dragon this close up; he suddenly found a newfound respect for his father's line of work, as he worked at the Ministry in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

This thought was suddenly shot clear out of his mind when the dragon roared, emitting a large flame as it did. Cedric dived out of the way, hearing the entire crowd gasp and Bagman announce, "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow."

He then tried to throw flames at the dragon, to no avail, which Bagman announced to the crowd as, "He's taking risks, this one!"

What to do? For a few minutes, he thought of using stunning spell, and he tried unsuccessfully to make this work. "_Clever _move—pity it didn't work!" The beast again blew a hot flame and he jumped out of the way. He fell to the ground and stood up on shaky legs, then struggled for a moment in finding his wand, which had dropped out of his hand, but he grabbed onto it and uttered a spell under his breath—"_Vera Socia!_"—and watched as a rock transformed into a large dog. The dog ran towards the dragon at full speed, catching its attention. Cedric took this opportunity to run forward, seeing the golden egg glinting in the light... He was nearly there...

But the dragon must have heard him, because it turned and roared, sending down a shower of flames. It missed hitting Cedric directly for the most part, but he cried out in pain when the flame licked the side of his face, but he grabbed onto the egg and ran away, and the dragon tamers came and stunned it. Almost immediately, Professor McGonagall was whisking him away to be seen after by Madame Pomfrey, who covered his face in an orange paste like substance.

After a little while, he was sure that somebody else was in the tent as Madame Pomfrey rushed off, calling, "Dragons! Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring into this school next? You're very lucky...this is quite shallow...it's need cleaning before I heal it up though..."

Cedric looked round and saw her attending to Harry. To his great surprise, the tent opened again...

And Maddie entered. He wondered for a moment whether she wanted to speak to him; she opened her mouth and started to say...

"Harry!" she called, running up to him. Cedric was slightly taken aback; were they _friends?_ "That was brilliant!" she was saying.

"Well—thanks!"

He didn't dwell on the way that she threw her arms around his neck for long, as the tent opened again and Cho entered, running up to him and calling out, "Cedric!" She immediately threw her arms around his neck, the same way that Maddie had just done to Harry. Cho looked about ready to kiss Cedric, but stopped seeing the paste on his face. "Oh, Cedric, are you hurt?"

Any idiot could have seen that he was hurt clearly, but he didn't say this, instead telling her, "I'm fine...honest..." He then clamped his teeth down on his bottom lip.

More and more of his friends and Harry's as well entered then, but he tried to keep his focus on Cho, though his thoughts were across the way to Harry and Maddie. When had they become friends? Was she supporting _him _over Cedric?

"Well done, all of you!" Ludo Bagman said as Fleur and Krum entered. "Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine in the morning of February the twenty-fourth—but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs you're all holding, you will see that they open...see the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg—because it will tell you what the second task is, and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go then!"

They exited the tent then, making their way back up to the castle, Cedric walking with his egg under his arm. _Great. Something else to deal with. _As Cho began to boast about how proud he was, he was suddenly snapped back to reality. One thing was for certain after that experience: fighting with Maddie was similar to fighting a dragon.

* * *

><p><strong>LAMEST. ENDING. EVER. I know what you're probably all thinking: "Did I wait a week for <em>that?<em>" And yes, you did. Even though I promised only six days. EXPLANATION FOR THAT: like I've said, I'm a senior in high school, equivalent to an upper sixth year. And I'm in three AP classes, which is literally a college course on a high school campus. That completely drains me except for weekends, but this past weekend I went and saw Potted Potter (an unofficial Harry Potter play) with my mom. And it. Was. _Hilarious._**

**But this week I tried to write this chapter and was swamped with homework, including yesterday, the day that I promised to post this. Then today, I got really sick and couldn't go to school, so I got really angry because I basically did a bunch of homework for nothing and I wrote this. Also, in case you couldn't tell, I'm sticking with the movies' idea of Hogwarts uniforms: the button up, the slacks/skirts, the ties, etc. That's why I said that Maddie's tie was a giveaway that she was in Hufflepuff. **I wasn't expecting this chapter to be so long? That's really disappointing since I kind of glossed over Cedric fighting the dragon. I wanted to spend more time on that but this chapter was long enough as it was. I made a promise to myself that the Yule Ball chapter was going to be the longest, but with the length of this chapter, I'm really going to struggle to get that one done. I promise it'll happen, though, even if it has to be like fifty million words long.****

**I tease, I tease. Also, still no friends for Hatter. :( Come on, she's lonely. AND no guesses as to Hatter's name (it must be because she stumped you all, isn't it?). So, here's another hint. Last chapter I told you it started with an 'n'; your second hint is that it's uncommon.**

**Also, you can expect chapter eleven on the fifteenth. Hopefully I don't get too overwhelmed with studying for finals (which begin for me on the seventeenth) to write. Thanks for reading, please review!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	11. The Unexpected Task

It was nearly the end of Transfiguration class just after the First Task when Professor McGonagall called out, "I have something to say to you all."

_Please, not more homework,_ Harry thought miserably. A_nd please don't mention me, either._

"The Yule Ball is coming up"—these words were completely meaningless to Harry, but surely they didn't mean homework or more attention for him?—"a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above—although you may invite a younger student if you wish—"

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil began to giggle mindlessly, though Professor McGonagall did her best to ignore them completely.

"Dress robes will be worn, and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then—" She looked at them as though she was a bit surprised to see them there. However, her face quickly turned to a scowl as she said, "The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to—er—let out hair down."

Lavender and Parvati giggled louder than ever, and Harry rolled his eyes at the two girls, though he understood the outburst. Professor McGonagall didn't look like she had let her hair down, in any sense of the phrase, in centuries. Why this message was of any concern to _him _when he definitely was not going to associate himself with the ball at all_…_

"But that does NOT mean," she continued, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way."

_Saved by the bell,_ Harry thought, as the chime went off, signaling the end of class. He and Ron packed their things (he was so glad that they had made amends after the first task) and started to exit the room, but the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Potter—a word, if you please."

He told Ron to go wait for him out in the hall, then made his way dismally to the professor's desk. When all of the students were gone, she jumped right in with saying, "Potter, the champions and their partners—"

"What partners?" Harry interrupted.

Professor McGonagall gave him a quizzical look. "Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter. Your _dance partners._"

It suddenly felt as though he had just stepped into a lake full of ice cold water. "Dance partners? I don't dance."

"Oh yes, you do. That's what I'm telling you. Traditionally, the champions and their partners open the ball."

"I'm not dancing."

"It is traditional." If looks could kill, Harry would have already been in a casket six feet under Hogwarts from the look that McGonagall was giving him. He didn't point out that she had already said that this was a traditional practice; saying it again was just redundant. "You are a Hogwarts champion, and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you get yourself a partner, Potter."

"But—I don't—"

"You heard me, Potter." She immediately set about looking at a stack of essays on her desk from her fifth year students, clearly finished discussing the matter with him. Resigned to simply agree and find someone to go with, he exited the room to the hall, where Ron was waiting for him.

"What did she want?" he asked once they had walked a bit away from the door.

"I'm expected to open the ball…with a date."

Ron immediately started roaring with laughter.

"Stop laughing," Harry said, feeling himself flushing red. "I've got to find _somebody…_ Why do girls always travel in packs?"

This was perhaps the truest statement that Harry had ever made. When one looked about the school, there was rarely an instance where a girl could be seen walking to and from class by herself. She usually had at least one other girl with her at all times.

There seemed to be two exceptions to this rule: Hermione, who was usually accompanied by Harry and Ron whenever she went somewhere around school; and Maddie Lewis, who Harry was seeing more and more of following the First Task.

Immediately after Harry and Ron's exchange, girls all over the school were queuing up to go with Harry. A third year Hufflepuff girl that he had never spoken to before asked him the following day if he'd go with her, and before he had taken much time to realize what she had said, he had already declined the offer. She walked away looking quite hurt. Following this, two more girls asked; a second year that he _definitely _had never spoken to before, and (to his horror) a fifth year who looked as though she might knock him out if he refused.

"She was quite good looking," Ron said once he stopped laughing. "You should have said you'd go with her."

"She was a foot taller than me," Harry said, a bit unnerved from this exchange. "Imagine what I'd look like trying to dance with her."

This just made Ron start laughing harder.

* * *

><p>Harry and Maddie typically met up in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom in order to obtain some privacy, and as they spent more and more time together, even Myrtle gave them more solitude.<p>

"What are you doing for the holidays?" he asked her one day about a week after McGonagall's message.

She brushed some of her long blonde hair out of her face before she answered. "Oh, I don't know yet. I don't think I want to go home to see my parents, given the circumstances…but they'd probably want to see me eventually."

"Given the circumstances?"

She seemed hurt by the question, but finally clarified, after a few moment's pause, "Cedric's been my friend since I was four years old. They always ask me about him…"

He interrupted her then, understanding completely. "I see. Well, I'll be here over holidays, too. I've never really fancied going home to my aunt and uncle." _Not that I have much choice this year,_ he thought, as he remembered what he was due to do on Christmas Day.

She ran her fingers through her long blonde hair. "They're Muggles, aren't they?"

He nodded, watching her fingers trail through the thick strands. "Brutal Muggles." He suddenly reached out, pushing back a strand of hair that had slipped through her fingers and fell in her face. "Have you ever thought of pulling your hair back in a…"

He stopped then, looking at her eyes and finding himself suddenly incapable of speech. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of emerald green, very similar to his own. But hers were somehow more…_captivating _than his were. They were also filled with sadness; whenever she smiled, it rarely reached her eyes. Her glasses, which were thick and rectangular, hid the pretty orbs from view enough as it was, but with her hair constantly in her face, it was even harder for him to see just how pretty she really was. Now that he was seeing her truly for the first time, he felt breathless.

It suddenly made perfect sense to him why Cedric would have dated her despite their age gap, even if in secret. She was quiet and reserved, but she had said that they grew up together. He probably got to know her over time, the same that Harry was doing now. He had probably seen her grow up from a little girl into a teenager, seen the transition into a beautiful young woman. He must have seen her in a way that nobody else could have—or perhaps it was that nobody else could be bothered to get to know her in such an intimate way.

Harry suddenly realized that he never finished his sentence when she asked, "In a ponytail?"

"Er—what?"

"You asked if I ever thought of pulling my hair back 'in a…'; is 'ponytail' the word you were looking for?"

"Uh, yeah, it was."

He suddenly dropped his fingers from her hair as though they had been electrified.

"I've done it before," she said, as though this had never happened. "I think all girls have."

"So why do you always have your hair in your face? I think some people would like to see more of you…" He stopped talking, suddenly realizing that he had said too much.

She shrugged. "Habit, I suppose."

"Kind of like biting your nails?" he asked, looking at her hands with a grin.

She suddenly pulled her arm away as though she feared him discovering more than just the bitten nails there. "Well, it's easier to break the habit with my hair than it is there."

As he realized that it was getting close to time for dinner, Harry and Maddie left soon thereafter to go to the Great Hall. Throughout the evening, he was unable to keep the girl from Hufflepuff out of his thoughts. If only he could ask _her _to the Yule Ball; McGonagall had said that third years and below couldn't go. He supposed he would just have to say 'yes' to the next girl that asked him.

It was about halfway through that he nearly dropped his fork as he realized what McGonagall had actually said: _"The ball will be open only to fourth years and above—although you may invite a younger student if you wish—"_

Of course he would _like _to invite Maddie Lewis to go with him, but actually asking her was an entirely different matter. As a result, she was on his mind throughout the course of the evening, and Hermione and Ron noticed the change in him, as evidenced by the looks that they gave him. Neither said anything about the matter, however, and about halfway through the meal, Hermione was invited to the Yule Ball by Neville; she politely declined this offer, however, saying that somebody had already asked her.

"Hermione, you're a girl," Ron said shortly after this exchange.

"Well spotted," she said back.

"No! It's just that—why don't you go to the ball with me and set Harry up with one of your friends?"

"Ron, you heard me just tell Neville that I've already been asked!"

"Well, you just said that to get him off your back, didn't you?"

This was obviously the worst choice of words that Ron could have used, as Hermione went very red in the face. "What are you trying to say, Ronald? That nobody would want to go to the ball with me?"

"So someone's asked you, then?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject. "Who is it, then?"

"I just…don't see you as the type of person who'd be interested in such a thing," Ron said, slightly taken aback.

"Why? Because I'm too focused on schoolwork, is that it?"

"Well—yeah, actually."

"Well, next time there's a ball, pluck up the courage to ask me before somebody else does, and not as a last resort!"

"But who are _you _going with? It's one thing for a bloke to be going alone, but for a girl, it's almost sad."

Hermione turned even redder and seemed to be on the verge of tears as she shouted back at him, "Is that what you think? I won't be going alone, because believe it or not, somebody's asked me!" She stood up, getting ready to exit. "And I said yes!"

And with that, she turned and raced out of the Great Hall and in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Well done, Ron," Harry said after a shocked silence.

"Well, I have to go with someone!"

"_You _have to go with someone? I have to open the Yule Ball with my _partner_…"

"Got any idea who you're going to try?"

Harry didn't answer. He knew perfectly well who he'd _like _to ask, but working up the nerve was something else…Maddie was a year younger than he was; she was very pretty; she was a very good friend, and she was also very heartbroken. Ron seemed to know what was going on inside Harry's head.

"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a champion. You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you."

"I suppose there's always Moaning Myrtle," Harry said, thinking to his exchanges with Maddie in the girls' lavatory that Moaning Myrtle liked to haunt.

The following day, Hermione was still cross with Ron, and he and Harry still did not have anybody to go with. Ron suggested that Harry just go with Ginny and he take one of her friends, which caused Harry to flare with jealousy at the idea of anybody going with Maddie but him. Ron thoroughly startled him when he finally delivered an ultimatum a few moments later.

"Harry—we've just got to grit our teeth and do it. When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners—agreed?"

"Er—okay," he said, watching as Maddie and another girl ducked into Transfiguration together. How was he supposed to ask her to go with him? He supposed that he could probably find her before dinner… That was probably the best way to get her alone.

Throughout all of his classes, he was unable to push the green eyed third year from his mind. Snape took many points off his potion in double potions that afternoon, but he couldn't care less; he was still trying to summon the courage to ask Maddie Lewis to go to the Yule Ball with him. Most of what all of his teachers said went through one ear and out the other.

As they left class, neither Ron nor Hermione seemed ready to speak to one another, and Harry suddenly realized what it must have felt like for Hermione to be their friend before the First Task of the tournament: awkward, and a bit frustrating. He was still thinking of Maddie Lewis as he felt the thick silence that had fallen over them when…

"I'll meet you at dinner," he said to Ron and Hermione as he spotted _her_ sitting on a bench in the grass.

Neither asked questions and simply walked away as he started across the grass towards her. Once she was a little bit away, however, it dawned on him that he didn't have a clue as to how he was going to ask her to go with him. He supposed he could just come out and _say it…_ Or would she be expecting a speech? Was he supposed to have something for her? Or was just his presence going to be enough?

After a few minutes of thinking to himself, he decided that Ron was right; he would just have to man up and ask her. He finally took off in the direction that he had seen her in earlier and found her easily, sitting on the same bench and reading a thick book. _Good, she's alone._

He started to walk up to her, feeling nervousness flood all over him again—but he froze when he got closer and realized that she was sobbing. From a safe distance, it simply looked like the rise and fall of her chest and back was just the rhythm of her breathing, but up close, tears were flooding her face and falling onto the book in her lap. Eventually, he worked up the courage and walked over to her, taking up the empty space on the bench.

She seemed to know it was him without looking up at him, shutting the book with a loud _thud_ and putting it back into her bag. It was an advanced textbook, probably too advanced for someone her age, but he didn't question it; it seemed it was just in her presence as a way of diverting attention away from her sobs.

He wondered what could possibly be causing her cries, but he looked up and saw what she must have been seeing across the way a bit. Cho Chang was certainly pretty on her own, but when she was with Cedric, she seemed five times more beautiful than she already was; it was as though happiness filled every orifice in her body and made her all the more stunningly pretty. Though Cedric, too, was smiling, his seemed a bit forced, but still, they were so very _together_.

"How does it feel, Harry?" Maddie said in a shaky voice, nearly making him jump out of his skin from the sudden permeation of the silence. He turned to look at her, trying to decipher what it was she meant, but she was pointedly avoiding eye contact with him. "When you think about me with Cedric?"

"Oh," he said, taken aback greatly. "Um…" How _did _he feel? Well—jealous of the other boy, that was for sure. And a bit confused as to what they were doing together, and also saddened by the fact that she obviously cared for him as much as she did…

Did he try to deny it? Did he own up to it? Did she even mean what he thought she meant? Maybe she meant something completely different than what he thought…

She didn't; he understood the question quite clearly, which she confirmed when she said, "I know. I've seen the way you look at me."

Was it that obvious? Did anybody else know other than her? He said nothing, instead just watched Cho and Cedric be silly together—Cho had found a single flower on the ground and Cedric had put it behind her ear, with a blank expression on his face; but Cho had a giggling fit and nearly fell over, which made the smallest of grins cross Cedric's face…

Harry turned to look at Maddie, who had found the courage to turn away from the couple at last, looking at Harry. "He was my best friend…"

And then, sobs captivated her once again, and she couldn't stop crying. Harry put an arm awkwardly around her shoulder, unsure of what else to do, but feeling her misery come over him. He finally had an answer to her question.

"It feels like this."

* * *

><p>Harry left her a little while later, telling her that she should probably clean herself up and then go straight to bed. They hadn't said much else since Harry admitted his feelings for her indirectly, feelings that he wasn't even sure he had until just a few days prior. She was very pretty…<p>

"Fairy lights," he said to the portrait of the Fat Lady, sounding as though he had been sentenced to death. He had spent the better half of an hour with her, just letting her sob, and hadn't even plucked up the courage to ask her to the ball! It didn't seem like the proper time to, but maybe she would have stopped crying if he had…

When he entered the Gryffindor common room, he was surprised to find Ron sitting in a chair before the fire, looking as though he had witnessed an execution. Ginny was speaking to him in a low, soothing voice, and Harry approached cautiously, curious as to what was happening.

"What's up, Ron?" he asked.

"Why did I do it?" Ron asked back, looking at Harry in horror. "I don't know what made me do it!"

"What?" said Harry, wondering what exactly 'it' was. Ron made it sound as though he had committed a murder.

Ginny picked up the slack, as Ron apparently was not answering. "He—er—just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him." She looked like she was trying very, very hard not to smile. This simply mooted the act of her patting Ron's arm sympathetically.

"You _what?_" And Harry thought _he _was crazy for trying to ask Maddie Lewis to the ball…

"I don't know what made me do it!" Ron repeated, turning white suddenly. "What was I playing at? There were people—all around—I've gone mad—everyone watching! I was just walking past her in the entrance hall—she was standing there talking to Diggory—and it sort of came over me—and I asked her!"

"You shouted it at her, actually," Ginny said, no longer able to resist the temptation to grin. Now, it seemed like she was fighting doubly hard not to laugh. "It was quite terrifying."

"She looked at me like I was part sea slug or something!" Ron said, groaning. "Didn't even answer. And then—I dunno—I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it."

"She was probably trying to get Cedric to ask her to the ball," Harry said, feeling disgusted. "It's a wasted effort—he's probably going with Cho Chang."

Ron frowned, looking as though he was a bit relieved to have some of the attention shifted off of him. "Why do you say that?"

"Long story."

Ginny looked at Harry in surprise. "Is that why Maddie's so upset with him? I feel like she's always fancied him a bit."

"Maddie?" Ron asked. "Your friend from Hufflepuff?"

"Yes, that's the one."

Ron suddenly lit up. "Ginny, why don't you go with Harry and I go with her?"

Harry flared with jealousy, but Ginny suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I'm not so sure I can do that…"

"Why not? It'd be better than going alone, like Neville. He asked _Hermione _over dinner the other night, and even she turned him down! Can you believe it?" Ron started to laugh at this, seemingly forgetting about his pain with Fleur Delacour, and even Harry couldn't fight a grin.

"Don't—don't laugh," Ginny said, turning scarlet and looking a bit annoyed.

At that moment, Ron and Harry both erupted into a fit of giggles, and Hermione climbed in through the portrait hole, looking at them in concern.

"Why weren't you two at dinner?" she asked.

"Because"—Ginny started to explain, but she grew annoyed by the laughter—"oh, shut up laughing, you two—because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!"

That shut Harry and Ron up. "I haven't been turned down," Harry said.

"So you've finally asked Maddie, then?" Ginny asked.

Ron suddenly took an interest in this. "You want to ask Maddie Lewis to the ball?"

"Er—yeah, I…" He stopped talking, looking at Ginny in surprise. "You know about that?"

"She's one of my best friends, Harry. She's told me loads about you. And in my opinion, if you haven't asked her, then it's the same as being turned down." This was hard to argue, he thought as he looked uncomfortably down at his feet. "You should get a move on before she decides to go home for the holidays."

"And while you're at it, try to set me up with one of her friends," Ron said.

"For goodness sake, Ron!" Hermione said, breaking her momentary silence. "Why can't _you _just ask somebody?"

Ron turned scarlet once again, matching Ginny's reddened complexion. "I tried asking you…"

"And I've told you, I'm going with someone!"

"You just said that to get rid of Neville!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Well, at least that way, I'm not the only one going alone—Neville is, too…"

"No, he's not," Ginny said, turning even redder. "I'm going with—with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought…well…I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year." She looked extremely miserable. "I think I'll go and have dinner."

She walked out of the common room then, apparently to avoid further embarrassment from Ron.

As she left, Harry thought more about what she had said: _She's told me loads about you. And in my opinion, if you haven't asked her, then it's the same as being turned down. You should get a move on before she decides to go home for the holidays._

* * *

><p>The following day, Harry walked idly through the castle. He didn't really have anywhere in particular that he needed to go to; it was just before lunch and he could go back to the common room if he pleased…<p>

That was when he saw Maddie Lewis leaving Charms with a girl with long brown hair and another with olive skin.

He ran up to her, grabbing the attention of some passerby.

"I've told you, Sierra," the girl with the long brown hair said to the olive skinned girl, "I'm not going to do much of anything once I leave here. Charms is useless."

"Charms is _never_ useless, Amber!" Maddie said, sounding borderline offended. Did she take school just as seriously as Hermione did?

Harry cleared his throat. "Maddie?"

She and her friends stopped walking and they turned to face him. Her face erupted into a real and true smile as she saw him. "Hi, Harry," she said. "Fancy seeing you here…"

"Can I talk to you?"

Her face relaxed some. _Giggling should be made illegal,_ Harry thought, as her friends that were with her (Amber and Sierra, he thought their names were) started to laugh. She didn't laugh, though, saying, "Okay," and following him a safe distance away. "What is it?"

He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and thought, _here goes nothing._

"I was just wondering…"

He took another deep breath.

"Wangoballwime?"

The words came out in a jumbled blur and he could feel his face reddening. _Way to be smooth, Harry. _She looked at him, confusion written on her face. "Sorry?" she asked. "I didn't catch that."

_Of course you didn't,_ he thought. One more time, he took a deep breath and said, "I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go to the ball with me?"

"Oh!" Maddie suddenly turned red, too. Harry had his fingers crossed in the pocket of his robes. "Oh—Harry, I…yes, all right, then." She grinned, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Really?" He could hardly believe it. Had she just said _yes?_

"Yes, I will."

"Well—brilliant! Do—do you happen to know anyone that would like to go with my friend Ron—Ron Weasley?"

"Well, there's my friend Amber. She's staying here for the holidays and she hasn't been asked by anyone. I could ask her, if you'd like."

"Yeah, that would be great," Harry said. "Let me know, will you?"

"Of course." He started to walk away, but she called after him. "Oh—Harry?"

He stopped, turning to look at her. "Yeah?"

She was grinning a mile a minute. "Thank you for asking me."

He, too, smiled. "No problem. I'll see you around."

He started to walk away and she ran up to catch up with her friends. "What was that about?" the one called Sierra asked.

"Oh, Harry just asked me to go to the ball with him," she said, and her friends started to squeal and giggle. "Oh, and Amber? You've got a date now, too. With _Ron Weasley._"

From the way that Amber started shrieking, Harry imagined that Ron was in for quite a treat, and laughed in spite of himself, glad that he finally got that out of the way and feeling really and truly happy for the first time in days.

* * *

><p><strong>WOO LAME ENDINGS GALORE! This fanfic is full of them. :) I just wanted to warn you all that I was just cast last minute in a school play. I auditioned and wasn't cast, but then somebody else who was cast had to drop out and I was asked to take their place, so you REALLY have to be patient with me if I promise an update that doesn't happen. Also, I start my finals in two days. I'm not looking forward to it, but you can (hopefully) expect the next update on the twenty-first of December, when my finals will be done.<strong>

**I also quoted a lot of this directly out of the book **_**Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire **_**and a bit from the movie. Hopefully you can tell what part was which. And um yeah and stuff.**

**Nobody knows Hatter's name yet. How depressing. I'm still giving hints though… Next hint for my name: the spelling is a bit unusual. Nothing out of the ordinary, but not that common for my name.**

**Please review, hope to see you next time.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	12. Cedric and Cho

Whenever Cedric walked away from a conversation with Cho, he felt like he needed a nap.

His friends made jokes often that they were becoming the school's 'it couple', especially Edward, who loved to tease Cedric about how they were 'bound to be married' (a joke that Cedric didn't find very funny at all; he wasn't so sure that he was destined to be married in the first place). One day, after a conversation that left Cedric feeling...exhausted, he returned to the common room where three fourths of his roommates were waiting and laughing.

"So, you guys are getting pretty serious, huh, Cedric?" Edward asked.

Cedric nodded, moving directly past him in the direction of the boys' dormitories.

"Where are you going?" Liam asked.

"I think I need to sleep," was the answer.

Matters were only made worse when he saw Maddie walking through the corridors. He wanted more than anything to run up to her and talk to her, try to tell her how sorry he really was. The problem in that, though, was that she was simply not speaking to him. If he entered the common room one night and she was sitting there with some friends, she made an excuse quickly about being tired or having somewhere else to be and left the room. He knew he had hurt her—which was something he'd never forgive himself for as long as he lived—but he was also hurt by the way that she wouldn't even look in his direction. And yet, at the same time, he knew he deserved it.

What in the world was he _thinking_? Cho Chang had _nothing _in comparison to Maddie. Sure, Cho was pretty, and close to him in age, and popular, and his friends wouldn't judge him for dating her. But even though Maddie was young, she was becoming a beautiful young woman, and she was so intelligent. And she _was_, at one point, his best friend, and what Joseph had said was right: she cared about him in ways that were unfathomable.

One morning he woke up from sleep feeling completely unrested and dressed for class, yawning as he did so. John was giving him a bit of an odd look, making him get more and more uncomfortable. Finally, he looked up at John as he started to tie his shoe. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, for one thing, you've got your shoes on the wrong feet."

He looked down at his feet, saw the damage, and quickly threw them off, starting again at putting them on.

"Next?" he asked, knowing there had to be more to this.

"Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"

He froze, wondering what in the world he had said. His roommates, too, suddenly seemed more attentive. "Go on," he said at last, hoping that he hadn't said anything too embarrassing.

"Not usually, but you have lately. Quite a bit, actually. Usually late at night."

Cedric glanced at Joseph, who was usually awake at ungodly hours, but Joseph shrugged as though he had no idea what John was talking about. Cedric tensed even more at this, looking back at John. He had to be telling the truth. None of them were exactly _liars... _Well, except Cedric lately...

"And what have I been saying?"

"'Maddie, I'm sorry', 'Maddie, forgive me', 'please, Mad', 'I'm so sorry'...things like that."

He was suddenly aware of four pairs of eyes staring intently at him (and a silence that was so thick it had to be cut with a knife), but he kept his focus on John, who stared back at him as though waiting for something. He simply had no idea what to say...

Luckily, it was Liam who broke the silence. "Speaking of," he said, "what happened between you two? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't care either way, but I thought you were..."

_Of course you don't care,_ Cedric thought, rising suddenly and grabbing his bag off the ground. _None of you care at all about her. That's why we kept this entire thing secret. _"Don't worry," he said, rougher than he had been intending, "we're not friends anymore." He left the room then, still feeling four pairs of eyes watching him as he went. Soon after, the four of them left their dorm after him, but none of them uttered a word about what had just happened.

When he arrived in the Great Hall, he had to endure, once again, what he had dubbed the walk of shame. This was the short period in which he passed where Maddie usually sat with her friends and continued on to where _he _usually ate. That morning, as he endured this walk, he tried to keep his eyes focused on the ground, but he found, to his horror, that Maddie was sitting a ways away from her friends, reading a book. It was almost as though she had not been invited.

Forgetting for a moment about their _disagreement _(for want of a better term), he started to walk up to her, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder lovingly...

"Cedric!"

A voice made him halt, immediately backing away from her and turning in the direction of the voice. Unfortunately, so did most of the Hufflepuff table, Maddie included. She therefore watched as Cho sprinted away from her friends and up to Cedric, flinging herself in his arms. He braced himself as she did so, surprised and a bit afraid of falling over.

"I haven't seen you in ages!"

He didn't tell her it had only been a day.

"How are you?" he asked simply.

"I'm good. Say, can I see you later? I have to go eat breakfast, but I just have been _longing_ to talk to you..."

He changed the subject abruptly without answering her question in the slightest. "I actually have to go, my friends are waiting." He walked away without another word. It was too early in the morning for him to feel so tired.

When he left Defense Against the Dark Arts that morning, Cho was standing outside the door waiting for him. He groaned inwardly but walked her to class, muttering a bitter goodbye to his friends, who teased him mercilessly about it (he could have sworn he heard Edward tell him to 'get some'). Whenever he walked her to class, he was lucky enough to endure her talking nonstop about herself. That morning, she complained about the way that Professor Snape had graded one of her essays. Knowing fully well that she was not going to let him get a word in edgewise, he zoned out then, thinking instead about the promise of going home at Christmas.

Once they were standing outside of her Arithmancy class, Cedric cut her off coldly, saying, "See you later," and walked away before she tried for the umpteenth time to kiss his cheek.

With that, he hurried off in the direction of Transfiguration, sliding into his seat just seconds before the bell rang. McGonagall gave him a cross look and immediately jumped into their lesson, conjuring birds from thin air (_Avis_). She set them about practicing it themselves, watching from her desk with a look of disdain as multiple students tried but failed to get the spell correct.

"So, you've been talking about Maddie in your sleep?" Joseph said quietly as he opened his textbook to the page that the spell was on.

"Apparently," Cedric said back, equally as quietly. He then cleared his throat and attempted the spell: "_Avis._" Nothing happened; his mind was a horrible place to be at the moment and he couldn't get himself to concentrate on the spell.

"Been dreaming about her?"

"Don't know. I usually wake up feeling like I haven't slept at all."

"You haven't talked to her lately, have you?"

"Do you really think that she'd be in a big rush to talk to _me _after what I did?"

"Well, _I've_ been talking to her."

Cedric froze then; he had just been preparing to try the spell again, but Joseph's words made him feel as though he was a statue. "You have?"

He nodded. "I'm concerned about her. I don't think she has a lot of friends at the moment. But it definitely sounds like she has some enemies."

That definitely hurt him. He could feel his grip on his wand relaxing. Merlin, if he heard a single person utter any rude words about her, he was going to do something about it. "Why do you say that?"

"She's just so sad all the time, you know. And she told me that she was thankful that I was taking the time to check up on her, because not a lot of other people are."

He let this sink in for a moment (was this _his _doing?), and then he said, "She's never going to speak to me again, you know?"

Joseph nodded. "I know." The conversation was dropped.

A few minutes later, though, McGonagall called out to the class, getting rid of the few birds that students had actually managed to create, "Can I have your attention, please?" All laughter and chatter stopped and they all looked at her expectantly. "The Yule Ball is coming up."

_And what in the world did this mean?_

"It is a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and a chance for us to intermingle with our foreign guests..." She then went on and on about the ball, but was interrupted when a short and fat house elf came in the room, wearing a Santa hat and a fake white beard around his chin.

"Ho, ho, ho! Candy canes!" he called as he came into the room.

McGonagall, looking very cross, glared at the elf as though he had wanted to infuriate her as several of her students giggled. "Yes, make it quick."

"Kenneth Towler?" the elf called. A boy in front from Gryffindor raised his hand. "Two for you." The elf tossed two candy canes to the boy, and Cedric realized that there were cards attached to the candy canes. Students must have been sending them to other students in regards to the holidays.

To his horror, the elf called out, "Cedric Diggory?"

He looked up at the elf, who seemed to know who Cedric was and waltzed up to him, his hat dangerously tilting over his eyes. "_Four _for you, Cedric Diggory! You go, Cedric Diggory!" He tossed the candy canes at Cedric, who took them with a look of surprise on his face. "And, uh, Aleesia Spinnet, do we have an Aleesia Spinnet?"

"It's Alicia," Alicia said from the front.

"Oh, Alicia," the elf said, walking up to the girl and handing her a candy cane, "here you go, one for you."

From a spot across from Alicia, Fred Weasley started to beam proudly, as though he was expecting something. The elf registered this and sauntered out of the room, calling over his shoulder, "And none for Fred Weasley, bye."

The door shut behind him as several of the students started to laugh and Fred's grin widened. He seemed to know that this was going to happen.

"As I was _saying,_" McGonagall said, immediately jumping back in on her talks about the Yule Ball.

Edward leaned over the desk from behind Cedric and Joseph, tapping Cedric on the back. When he turned around, Edward hissed in his ear, "Who're they from?"

Cedric looked down at the candy canes and looked at the cards attached. All four of them had the same message: _To Cedric Diggory. From Cho Chang._

Burning red, he shoved them all into his bag and said to Edward, "No one."

When the bell finally rang, he gathered up his belongings and started to walk out the door. However, when he passed McGonagall's desk, she said, "Mr. Diggory, may I see you for a moment?"

"Go on," he said to his friends, who were looking at him in confusion. "I'll see you in a minute." He walked up to McGonagall's desk. "Yes, Professor?"

"Mr. Diggory, I'm sure you heard my announcement about the Yule Ball, and..."

"The what?"

She looked very cross (a usual expression for her) and said, "The Yule Ball, Mr. Diggory. The announcement that I had at the end of class today?"

_Oh, that._ "Oh, yes. I heard."

"It is a traditional part of the Tournament, Mr. Diggory, that the champions and their partners open the ball, so be sure that you find a partner."

"Wait, what?"

She went very red in the face (not from embarrassment, as he had been earlier, but from disdain, it seemed) as she explained, "You and your dance partner are to open the ball, Mr. Diggory. It is a tradition. Therefore, I expect that you'll find a partner." She seemed to be finished discussing the matter, so he left the room then, cursing his bad luck.

Cedric had made plans to meet up with Cho once Transfiguration was let out (actually, _she_ had made these plans following his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which was directly before Transfiguration), but after having her talk his ear off, he dashed to the common room from class, in hopes of avoiding her.

When Joseph arrived just minutes later, he looked at Cedric in concern, wearing a deep set frown on his face.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiding," he said simply.

"Hiding? From what?"

"From _who._"

"Cho?" Cedric nodded; Joseph's frown deepened. "Well, where is she?"

"Probably where I told her to meet me at, I'm guessing..."

Joseph's eyes doubled in size. "She's waiting for you _now?_ Cedric, you have to break up with her!"

Cedric looked at Joseph in what could only be described as astonishment. "I can do that?"

"What do you _mean _'I can do that'? You _have _to do that!"

"I can't just break up with her..."

"Why not? You did it to Maddie."

"That's different!"

That certainly was different. Breaking up with Maddie (which he wasn't so sure he actually did) was a much simpler task than breaking up with Cho. For one thing, Maddie didn't talk exclusively in their conversations without letting him get a word in edgewise, a habit that Cho was guilty of. In fact, their conversations could hardly be called conversations, they were so one sided. All Cho ever did was talk and talk...and talk.

"How in the world is it different?" Joseph spat. If Cedric was to go by the look on Joseph's face, the other boy clearly already knew what Cedric thought the answer was, but still longed to know.

"I don't even know if I broke up with her!"

Joseph shook his head, apparently completely finished discussing this. Cedric groaned and started to walk off, but the door to the common room opened and Edward entered with John and Liam in tow, apparently having told them about the elf and the candy cane incident.

"Here," Cedric said, reaching into his bag and pulling out the four candy canes, shoving one at each of his friends. "Take them."

Edward seemed absolutely horrified. "You don't want them?"

"Take them," he repeated, then lied quickly, "I don't care much for candy canes." He bit his lip then, but only Joseph seemed to pick up on this action, and he too shoved the candy into his bag, not even looking at it. Liam and Edward, however, ripped the plastic off and immediately started to eat them. John was watching Cedric attently. Cedric, who was tired of the attention, left the room then.

There was just no reasoning with Joseph anymore, it seemed. Still, following this exchange, Cedric knew that Joseph was right. He had to break up with Cho. He wasn't doing either of them any favors by continuing their relationship.

"And so after Potions the other day," she said as they walked to class the following day, "after Professor Snape gave me that _dreadful _mark, I walked into the library with Marietta, and guess who was there? Roger Davies! And—get this—he asked me if I wanted to hang out with him at Hogsmeade this weekend. I told him that I had a boyfriend, you know, and then he must have been still trying to get my attention, because then he started talking about Quidditch. Well, I'm not going to leave a conversation about Quidditch! I'm sure you understand that, don't you? But anyway, we were talking about Quidditch and then Marietta said—"

"Cho, I've been meaning to tell you—"

"It's rude to interrupt, Cedric," Cho interrupted. "Then Marietta said that she thought..."

Cedric groaned to himself. There really was no easy way to go about doing this.

To his surprise (and horror), girls all over school started lining up, asking him to go to the Yule Ball with him. He felt absolutely dreadful about turning them down (especially since he needed to have a date), but there was nobody he wanted to go with. Simply put, he didn't want to go to the ball at all. It looked like he wouldn't be going home for Christmas after all.

Feeling more and more miserable with each time that he put it off, he finally decided that he had to break up with Cho once and for all. At first, he had been wanting to break up with her due to what had happened with Maddie, something that he couldn't exactly tell her about, but as more and more time passed, he had more reasons to do so. He didn't exactly see a future with somebody who wouldn't even let him contribute to a conversation.

He found her leaving the library one day with Marietta, a thick book on Potions under the second girl's arm. He took a deep breath, walking up to her and thinking to himself, _Here goes nothing..._

"Cho."

She stopped and turned to look at him, breaking into a broad grin. "Hello, Cedric! How are you?"

He took a deep breath again, repeating what he had said to Maddie when _they _had broken up: "Cho, we need to talk."

"Oh, I know."

He frowned. "You know?"

"Oh, of course I do! It's almost Christmas, and you know what's happening on Christmas, don't you?" Before he could say that he really didn't know what was happening, she said, "Marietta's been asked by _so _many boys," and the two started to giggle, apparently thinking about the many boys that had asked her—asked her to what?

Oh, that was right. _The Yule Ball._

"And you know, some boys have asked me, too..." Cho continued.

"Have they." He really didn't care.

"I turned them down, though, because I've been waiting for _someone __special _to ask me..."

He sighed. "Will you go to the ball with me?" he asked in a deadpan.

The two girls started to shriek. "Oh, of course I will, silly!" She stopped laughing enough to say, "You should dress really sharp—but of course you will, it's a ball, and you always look nice—and be sure to wear cologne. You smell so much better when you do." He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she continued on, "And it'd also be nice if you got me a corsage. And be sure to meet up with me at the top of the staircase leading to the Great Hall, and..." She droned on and on, telling him exactly how the evening was going to go.

He finally walked away after about twenty minutes, when it suddenly hit him: rather than break up with Cho, he had asked her to the ball. _Great._

When he arrived in the common room some time later, all four of his roommates were there and three of them were talking loudly. Joseph stood quietly in the center, looking a bit embarrassed but still smiling. Cedric walked in a bit confused, going up to them with it written on his face. "What's up?" he asked John, the first one that he saw.

"_JOSEPH'S JUST ASKED ELEANOR TO GO TO THE BALL WITH HIM!_" Edward shouted, so loud that many people in the room looked over at them.

Cedric's mouth dropped open. "_Really?_"

Joseph nodded. "And she said 'yes'!"

"Well—congratulations!" Cedric broke into a grin, feeling happy for his friend. "But really, Joseph, were you expecting her to say 'no' to you?"

"The rest of us were," Liam said. When Joseph scowled, he threw an arm around his shoulder, laughing, "I'm only joking, Joey, you know that. I'm happy for you, man!"

"Well—thanks!" Joseph was smiling now, too.

"That means all of us have dates, right?" Liam asked, then turned his attention to Cedric. "Unless you haven't asked _your lady friend _to go with you...?"

"I just did," Cedric said, suddenly not smiling. "And she said 'yes'."

"Well, what else were you expecting?" Joseph said, a bit of disdain in his voice. Cedric looked away then, but then Joseph said, a few moments later, "Cedric, can I speak to you? Privately?"

The two of them crossed the common room to have a bit of privacy. "What is it?" Cedric asked once they were a safe distance away.

"I thought you were going to break up with Cho?"

"I tried to...but somehow that turned into me asking her to go to the ball with me."

"Cedric, you've got to do it eventually!"

"I know that." He looked at the ground. "I don't even want to go to the ball with her. Not with anyone, really."

Joseph saw the look on Cedric's face. "You want to go with Maddie, don't you?"

"I don't know if I feel the same way about her anymore," Cedric said, looking up again in surprise. "I mean, I miss her like crazy, but that's because she was my best friend. I miss her friendship."

"So you _were _just using her, then." Before Cedric could offer a rebuttal, Joseph scoffed. "Whatever. It may interest you to know that she's been asked to the ball by somebody. And she said 'yes'."

Cedric froze. "She did?"

He nodded. "Apparently, she's got something for Triwizard Champions. She was asked by Harry Potter."

* * *

><p><strong>I'M SORRY THIS CHAPTER WAS TWO DAYS LATE I'M SO SORRY DON'T KILL ME. When I originally uploaded the last chapter, it was laden with typos, which I apologize for. I fixed those up in the time being, but one of the typos was me saying that I was going to upload this chapter today (1223), when I really meant 12/21. Either way, I got this up on a day that I promised? :D**

**It's just been hectic for me. On Saturday (the day this was supposed to be up), I had to go do community service for my club at school, and then I had a family commitment that I had to get done, so I got home really late at night and I was exhausted. Then, yesterday my grandpa and sister came home (my sister is in college/university and my grandpa lives with his girlfriend), so I was busy with that, and I also had to go Christmas shopping, plus a friend came over. So today was the best day for me to get this done.**

**I PROMISE YOU THAT THE YULE BALL CHAPTER WILL BE UP ON CHRISTMAS NO MATTER WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO GET IT DONE. And I promise you it will be the longest chapter of this fic. I. Promise. You can hold me to that, even. Did you notice my references to two different movies in this? I'm hoping you noticed at least one, since that was glaringly obvious, but the other might be a bit harder for you all to find. Also, next hint for my name because I'M SURE someone wants to guess it: it is also the name of a famous writer. Next chapter will, of course, be up on Christmas. Please review!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	13. The Yule Ball

The final Hogsmeade trip before Christmas break was rapidly approaching, and Harry asked if Maddie would come with him, Ron, and Hermione to the Three Broomsticks. She had accepted, though she seemed a bit nervous about the whole ordeal. Once he asked why, she grinned sheepishly before answering.

"I feel like this is the equivalent of you asking me to meet your parents."

He laughed at this. "I feel like Ron and Hermione are more easygoing than my parents would have been. And do you really think we're getting that serious with each other?"

"Well, you did ask me to go to the ball with you."

Harry said nothing. He didn't want to reveal that he hoped for them to be serious with one another. He just simply enjoyed her company more than he could properly explain. If Cedric hadn't wanted her, then his loss.

It was starting to get to the point where Ron would say that Harry had been wanting to spend time with 'his girlfriend'. Harry rolled his eyes at this. "Come off it, she isn't my girlfriend," he said, and even Hermione looked at them over the top of the textbook she had been reading (for _fun_, which had drove Ron absolutely mad when she said it).

"You _are _spending a lot of time with her, though," she said. "I was beginning to wonder when we'd meet her..."

"When _you'd _meet her," Ron said, "she's my neighbor and one of Ginny's best friends."

"Still, Harry," Hermione continued, ignoring Ron's outburst completely, "she's seeing more of you than we are these days. Not that it's a bad thing," she added, seeing the look on his face, "but maybe we could do something together in Hogsmeade. The four of us."

"Really?" he asked, and when she nodded, he immediately set out to find the younger girl to ask if she would accompany them to the Three Broomsticks. When the three Gryffindors arrived in Hogsmeade, Harry would not stop fidgeting. Would his friends like her? Would she like his friends? Would that day be a disaster? Would it have been a mistake to ask her there?

Before they went to the pub, Hermione asked that they do some last minute Christmas shopping in a quaint little shop that smelled oddly of earwax. She insisted that she went there for things to bring home to her parents over the holidays, in order to get them acquainted with the magical world, and despite the smell, it certainly was full of interesting little trinkets (to Harry, anyway, since Ron had grown up with and was therefore accustomed to magic). Harry started to look around the little shop and found a pair of beautiful gold and silver earrings on display for only three Galleons.

He obviously had little taste for jewelry, but he could imagine Maddie wearing these. Did she even have her ears pierced? Was it even appropriate for them to get each other gifts? That, he'd have to worry about later, he decided as he picked up the jewelry and went to pay for it before Ron and Hermione noticed (they were across the store, as Hermione said she needed 'a male's opinion' on a Christmas gift for her father).

With that done, they went to the Three Broomsticks and Harry could not sit still. Maddie finally arrived moments after the waitress came to take their orders, and Harry's heart nearly beat out of his chest when he saw her. She smiled sweetly at him as she came to join them.

"Hello, Harry!" she said happily, sliding into a seat next to him.

"Hi," he said back in a funny voice, then regained his composure to say, "Maddie, this is Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione...Maddie."

The two of them just stared at her as she smiled kindly back at them; apparently, the four of them felt too uncomfortable to say anything to one another, so Maddie cleared her throat and said, "I hope you haven't ordered yet, what I want is a bit unusual..."

"A butterbeer with a splash of ginger?" Harry asked; he had ordered for her, remembering that she said she liked this unusual concoction.

Her face turned a bit pink at this gesture. "Harry! How'd you remember?"

"Does that taste...good?" Hermione asked, unsure if this was the proper thing to be saying at that particular time.

"Oh, definitely," she said, nodding seriously. "It's a bit of an acquired taste, though. My dad likes it that way, so that's the way he makes it for me."

Ron perked up at the mention of this. He was definitely right in his protests that he had met Maddie before, which were confirmed when he said, "Oh, yeah...didn't he make it for all of us that one time we were all at your house for Christmas? That had to be at least seven years ago, yeah? And we were all there, weren't we? You, me and my brothers, Ginny, Cedric..."

Harry tensed, but Maddie didn't say anything at the name. She just nodded and said, "Yes, I think I was about six at the time. My dad only ever makes it like that, it's the way he likes it, so he hoped we would too."

"It's good," Ron assured Hermione, who just nodded back politely. The waitress arrived then with the drinks and scurried off, seeming to think that she had interrupted a double date. Harry picked up his glass of butterbeer just as Ron said, "So, has Harry manned up and asked you to the Yule Ball yet? Or will he have to drag you there kicking and screaming?"

What little amount of butterbeer that Harry got into his mouth came immediately back out and he reddened. "_Ron!_"

Maddie, however, laughed. "No, he's asked me. And I said 'yes'."

"Well, it ought to be fun," Hermione said, wanting to continue the conversation. "I'm really looking forward to it."

"And I'm sure you'll be—" Harry stopped speaking then, realizing that he could see more of Maddie's face than normal. "Hey, you put your hair up!" With this little development, he could clearly see that she did, indeed, have her ears pierced.

That also meant he could see the deep blush that formed on her face that spread all the way up to her ears. "Oh—yeah, I-I did. I just was—thinking about what you said, and my roommates were talking..."

Harry's blush deepened too, as he realized he had obviously embarrassed her. "I didn't mean anything by it," he said, looking down at his clasped hands, "sorry. It looks great."

They went back to the castle not much later, as both became too embarrassed to speak to one another and Hermione and Ron were terrible at trying to coerce them into a conversation. As they got closer to the castle, Maddie gave Harry a warm smile and a quick embrace; his heart nearly beat straight out of his chest. She pulled away, saying, "Goodbye, Harry! I'll see you on Christmas!"

"Bye, Maddie!" Harry said back, suddenly feeling tongue tied. Good Lord, he was getting dizzy by her beauty.

They had barely got back onto school grounds when a deep, bitter voice behind them muttered, "Excuse me," and the owner of the voice pushed past them roughly. Cedric Diggory followed Maddie back to the common room, but neither of them spoke a word to one another. After a while, Cedric passed her, apparently making no attempts to talk to her. Harry could feel his hands clench into fists in his pockets as he watched the Hufflepuff disappear down the corridor.

"Somebody seemed happy to see you, Harry," Ron said, looking at Cedric in anger.

"I just don't think he likes seeing me and Maddie together."

"Why? I thought they were best friends?"

How much _did _Ron know about her? "_Were. _They...had a fight. I don't think she'd want me to share too much with you, though."

"You really fancy her, don't you, Harry?" Hermione asked.

That, he did. He thought she was just so _pretty_, and charming, and intelligent. She was a great friend; he owed her his life. He had been her rock when she needed it the most, and she had helped him get through his dispute with Ron and the adversity he faced when he was chosen as champion. He found himself unable to respond. They took his silence as an answer.

"At the ball...are you going to kiss her?" Ron asked.

"_Ron!_" Hermione snapped.

"Well, I'm just wondering!"

"I don't know," Harry said truthfully. "Maybe."

The truth was that he would like that very, _very _much, but working up the nerve would probably take most of, if not all of, the night. He put his hand into his pocket and found the box containing her earrings. He hoped that she didn't end up wearing any to the ball; he wanted to give them to her on Christmas so that she could wear them that night. He had his fingers crossed as they entered the Gryffindor common room, hoping for a miracle.

* * *

><p>The list of students staying at the castle for the Christmas holidays was extensively long, much longer than usual, and in Maddie's humble opinion, the break approached entirely too quickly. Her parents were very pleased when she had written to them, saying that she was going to be staying to attend the ball, but she had not even told them <em>who <em>she was going with. Perhaps they already knew it was Harry; perhaps they didn't. They had written back, asking how it felt to be best friends with a champion. She didn't feel like writing back to tell them that Harry wasn't exactly her best friend, though she knew that they couldn't have possibly been asking about him.

She was aroused early on Christmas morning by Amber, who apparently couldn't sleep and was trying to rouse Allison. Their room was relatively empty; Sierra and Boo had both returned home for the holidays, having not been asked to the ball by anyone. Allison's parents were magizoologists and were spending Christmas in the Caribbean, a place where it would be impractical for them to bring their thirteen-year-old daughter, so she was staying at the castle with them. And Maddie and Amber both had the Yule Ball to be in attendance of that night.

"Wake _up_, Allison," Amber said.

"What do you want?" she mumbled when Amber finally succeeded in rousing her.

"_Presents!_"

Maddie grinned. "It really doesn't take much to please you, does it, Amber?"

"I've been waiting for this day since the twenty-sixth of December!"

Maddie laughed, throwing the sheets off of her and getting out of bed to join Amber. Amber was excited to see a Remembrall from her mother. Almost immediately, the smoke turned red. "Ah, damn," Amber said, "I've forgotten to send her a Christmas gift."

Maddie was overjoyed to see that Mrs. Weasley had taken the time to knit her a new red sweater, with a large black 'M' embroidered on it. She set this aside hoping to put it on, reaching under her bed to retrieve a pair of jeans to slip into...

Her hand fell onto something that felt almost glossy, and definitely not clothes of any kind. Curiously, she pulled this out of her trunk to see what it was... And felt her eyes fill up with tears almost immediately as she dropped it onto the bed.

It was a Quidditch magazine, which her father had told her was a collector's edition. There were only about one hundred copies in the entire wizarding world, and 'anyone who's a fan of Quidditch ought to have one'. The magazine could hardly be called that; it was practically a book, since it was nearly equivalent to her textbook in terms of thickness. And stuffed into the spine of it was a piece of parchment, which she pulled out with trembling fingers, knowing already what it said.

_Merry Christmas, Cedric. Love always, Maddie._

How long ago had she bought this? It must have been months before, since she had forgotten its presence in the time being, and she definitely wouldn't have stopped to buy him a present had it been recently. She knew that seemed cold, but after all he had done to her, there was no way that she would go out of _her _way to be nice to him.

"Who got you that?" Amber said, ogling it jealously.

She had to come up with a lie, and fast. "My dad," she said simply, tucking the parchment back inside the magazine and thinking about how much money it had cost. She probably would just keep it for herself at that point. Maybe she could give it Harry.

At any rate, no matter how much she wanted to make amends with Cedric, she suspected that, deep in her heart, it wasn't going to happen.

* * *

><p>Maddie looked stunning at the Yule Ball. Her hair had never looked so elegant; her vibrant green eyes matched the beautiful fabric of her dress. Harry gave Cedric a smug smile as they waltzed across the floor, and he dipped her so gracefully that she almost appeared to be a swan, or that their dance was choreographed.<p>

"Aren't you going to dance with me, Cedric?" Cho called from the other side of the Great Hall, and the entire school was laughing at them...no, they were laughing at _him._ What was so funny?

"Make way, the Triwizard adulterer is coming through!" Edward had appeared out of nowhere from the crowd, leading Cedric up to Cho by the hand and looking around the room at everyone with a happy grin on his face. Maddie and Harry never stopped dancing.

A Slytherin prefect that he had never seen before suddenly called out from the crowd, "You're a disgrace, Diggory!"

He just couldn't understand_ what _was going on. What had he done?

When he passed Maddie, he finally saw his reflection in her glasses. There he was in his dress robes, but there, embroidered onto the chest, was a large scarlet letter 'A'. A for adulterer, he assumed. Maddie grinned at him as she saw him looking at her, as though to say, _are you happy now?_

"I'm sorry," he said to her, and she looked at him curiously. "I'm sorry, Mad, I'm sorry!"

She opened her mouth to speak, but the voice that came out wasn't hers.

"Cedric."

"I'm so sorry."

"Cedric."

"Please listen to me!"

"Cedric!"

He suddenly sat upright in bed, looking around the room. John, Edward, Joseph, and Liam were all staring at him with concerned expressions on their faces. He was still in his dormitory...it was Christmas morning...it must have just been a bad dream.

"Are you alright, man?" John asked. It was him who had been saying his name, not Maddie. Had he been talking aloud in his sleep? John had said that he had a habit of doing that, and the looks on his friends' faces pretty much confirmed that he had, once again, been speaking while he slept.

"Sorry," he said to his friends.

"We know you're sorry," Edward said, "you just told us all that you were."

"Do you think that maybe you should just _talk _to her?" Liam asked.

"She'll never speak to me again," Cedric said simply, and his friends seemed to accept this as an answer, as they all started to look at what they had received for Christmas. Cedric, feeling the need to clear his mind, started to look through his gifts at this point as well. There was a book from his father on working at the Ministry, which he immediately cast aside. He would never give that dream up, Cedric was sure of it. His mother, too, had sent him a book, but it was an autobiography of one of his favorite Quidditch players.

Fred and George had actually given him a gift too—one of the Potter Stinks badges. It was probably a joke, he figured, since they were from Gryffindor and therefore supported Harry over him. "Do you want this?" he asked them all, and when Liam looked mildly interested, he tossed it across the room to him.

"Oh, I'm going to wear this tonight," he said proudly, pinning it to his pajamas.

Cedric laughed, then immediately went back to his things again. Mrs. Weasley—bless her—had sent him a sweater, a black one with a large yellow 'C' in the center. She had knitted this herself; she had been making sweaters for her children and their friends ever since her son Bill was young. He wondered just how many of these she had to make each year...

"That from Mrs. Weasley?" John asked. He seemed to know that she had a habit of sending these.

"Yeah."

"Don't you have one like that already?"

"Yeah, it's in my trunk."

He reached under his bed to find it, but instead, he found something cold and what felt to be glass... Perplexed, he yanked it out from under his bed—and his breath caught in his throat once he saw what it was, his heartbeat slowing almost to a standstill.

The picture was an older one. Cedric looked like he was only fourteen years old in it, but Maddie had to be at least eleven, because she was wearing glasses. She couldn't have been too much older than that; it looked like it was when she was going to Hogwarts for the first time, if he was to rely on the background of Kings Cross station and the Hogwarts Express behind them. He had his arm around her shoulder protectively and was looking at her like she was his younger sister. The picture, naturally, was moving, and every so often, they would make eye contact and grin. Around them, people moved all across the platform, and large puffs of smoke went flying everywhere. Both of them appeared to be happy that they were finally being looked at, though. How long had he had this? And how long had it been since he had put it in his trunk?

Oh, that was right. After he told her about Cho Chang, he couldn't stand to look at the picture anymore; too many memories were attached to it. At first, he had just shoved it face down on his bedside table, but it got to be too much, and he shoved it into his trunk when Joseph had told him that she was going to the Yule Ball with Harry. When he had done it, the versions of them in the picture had looked upset, as though they had done something wrong to be packed away. It didn't make any sense. Why was he still so upset with himself over this?

"Somebody didn't send you a picture frame, did they?" Liam asked.

"What?" Cedric asked, nearly dropping the frame to the floor.

He nodded to what was in Cedric's hands and he looked down at it once again, finding (to his surprise) that there was a teardrop on the glass above Maddie's face; the picture versions of themselves seemed to be confused. He was staring at the real version of himself, as though trying to figure out why he was so unhappy.

"It—I've had it for a while." At long last, he shoved the picture away again, trying to suppress all memories (and tears) with it, finding Mrs. Weasley's sweater. "This is the one she gave me last year, John."

* * *

><p>Harry began to pace the common room when it was getting closer to eight o'clock. He watched many students and couples leave, some of them giggling, others appearing just as anxious as he was. Where in the world was Ron? They had to go soon if they wanted to get to the Great Hall before Maddie and Amber showed up.<p>

As though on cue, Ron appeared in the common room then, and Harry had to suppress a laugh when he saw how Ron was dressed. His dress robes were..._were..._

"Go on, say it," Ron said, sounding as though he was facing his execution. "I look like a menace."

"You look..." He tried to say 'fine', but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Harry didn't say what he was thinking: that Ron looked like a walking Valentine's Day card.

"Are those your dress robes?" Ron asked, sounding more and more hopeless with each passing second. Harry nodded. "Well, they're alright! No lace, no dodgy little collar..."

"Well, I expect yours are more traditional..."

"_Traditional?_ They're _ancient! _I look like my Great Aunt Tessie!" With that, he raised an arm, as though not expecting the seams to hold, but then he turned his head and sniffed under the arm, paused, and said, exasperatedly, "I _smell _like my Great Aunt Tessie!"

Harry hid a laugh. Seeing the look on Ron's face, though, he regained composure and tried another tactic. "Think on the bright side?"

"What bright side? That they've found something to bury me in?"

"You have no date to impress..."

"Who am I even going with? You never told me."

Harry shook his head. "All that I know is that her name is Amber. Amber Wright. She's a third year in Hufflepuff."

Ron nodded. "Well, are you about ready?" Harry started to move toward the door, but Ron remained, looking in a mirror and groaning, then he followed him out of the door. The entire castle was decorated for Christmas, and everywhere anyone went, couples all over school were going in the direction of the Great Hall for the ball. Girls all over were complimenting one another on their dresses; boys were hoping that they didn't make fools of themselves when they were finally let into the hall.

Harry could see where the champions and their dates were supposed to be waiting. There was Fleur with Roger Davies; Viktor Krum was looking just as sulky as ever as he waited for his partner to arrive; Cedric, too, was waiting for Cho to arrive, talking to Fleur in the meantime, looking a bit sad. Harry figured that he had to make his way over there, but stopped when he saw Cho walk up to Cedric. The other boy tried to grin, but it seemed that something wasn't quite right with him.

Things were more than just _not right _with Cedric. Ever since his dream the night before, he had been unable to stop thinking about everything he had done wrong lately. He wished, more than anything, he could just redo this whole school year. He wanted to start over, from the beginning, starting with the announcement about the tournament. He wished he would have been truthful that first night in the dormitories and told his friends about his secret, told them all about how happy Maddie made him. Now, she wouldn't even spit in his direction.

Not that he blamed her. Not only had he disobeyed her, then cheated on her, but now he wasn't even sure that he felt the same way about her.

"You look...nice," he finally told Cho, who had arrived wearing a long sleeved, silvery dress.

"Thank you!" she said, giggling profusely. "You know, the sleeves come off if it's getting too hot, but I don't know where I'd set them down at..." And she began to talk about herself. Cedric looked around for help, but he didn't see any of his friends anywhere and he didn't want to bother Viktor, who was staring intently in the direction of the library...

Cho suddenly stopped talking. "Oh my God," she whispered, so quietly that Cedric probably wouldn't have registered her voice if he wasn't looking at her, "she looks beautiful."

He turned in the direction that she was looking in, following her eyes. There, at the top of the stairs, was a friend of the Weasleys', Hermione Granger, and he could feel Viktor stand up more attentively as he walked past Fleur, Roger, Cedric, and Cho to go meet her. He met her in front of an appalled looking Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, who were apparently waiting for their own dates.

But Cedric's breath suddenly caught in his throat and he struggled to maintain his composure as he started to turn back towards Cho. There, at the top of the stairs, were two girls descending. One was wearing a simple dress of pale, pale blue, looking around at the scene with a sense of excitement in her eyes. But the other had her long blonde hair pulled back into a sort of bun at the base of her neck, a few loose curls framing her face. Her red dress had caught the attention of most people at the ball, and they parted like the sea to let her through. She was smiling, but she seemed a bit nervous as she descended the stairs, her green eyes looking about the scene as though she couldn't take everything in fast enough. Though she looked like a beautiful young woman, there was an almost childlike innocence about her, and Cedric couldn't bring himself to look away.

Simply put, Maddie was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life.

At long last, he finally breathed out, "Yes—yes, she is," hoping that Cho hadn't heard him but not really caring if she had. Cedric watched as Maddie finally found Harry, who seemed just as mystified by her beauty as he was, and who grabbed her hand and kissed it before reaching into his robes and pulling out a box. Cedric forced himself to look away then, turning his attention back to Cho. This was increasingly hard to do when Professor McGonagall appeared and Harry and Maddie came over to join them.

The heavy doors to the Great Hall opened and the students, save for the champions and their dates, were allowed in. McGonagall was apparently looking around to see that all four of the champions were there and that they had each been successful in finding partners for the ball.

"Alright, now," she was telling them, "you're going to open the ball in a few moments. After the first dance is over, dinner will be served, though you can eat at any point in the evening. I expect that you will be good representatives of your school." She seemed to be looking directly at Harry and Cedric as she said this, then after a few more moments she finally opened the heavy doors.

Cedric was led into the Great Hall by Cho, who seemed to be much more eager to start the evening than he was to end it.

Harry, however, wanted the night to last forever. He simply knew that he had the most beautiful date in the entire school, and as he followed the other champions and their partners into the Great Hall, knowing that all eyes were on the eight of them, he couldn't wait for the ball to begin. The four champions situated themselves and their partners at locations all over the hall, waiting patiently for the first song to begin so they could open the ball.

"Do you want to lead?" he asked Maddie, so quietly that his lips barely moved.

"Are you kidding? I'd kill us both!"

"I've never danced!" He sighed, then tried again. "Look. I'm not going to step on your toes if I can help it. I'll just...copy someone," he said finally, looking at Viktor and Cedric as though trying to figure out if _they _had any idea what they were doing. Both seemed to be calm and collected, so perhaps it was just him that was nervous. Or maybe they better knew how to hide their nervousness.

Suddenly the music started and the other couples began to dance; a split second after them, Harry grabbed hold of Maddie and started to move her around the Great Hall. He really had no idea what he was doing, but looking at Viktor and Cedric told him that he should be holding one of her hands in his and putting his arm around her waist with his free hand. She seemed to understand that much, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you for coming with me," Harry whispered to her.

"Thank you for asking me," was the response.

After a long pause, like eternity, Harry looked at her fondly. He wasn't ashamed to say it—he fancied her.

"Harry," she said, pulling him out of his thoughts, "I don't know if you know this, but your palm is sweating."

"Is it?" He hadn't even noticed, he was just too captivated by Maddie's beauty and her aura. "Ah...oh man, I'm sorry. I-I just...ah, there's no excuse."

From the corner of his eye, he could see Fleur being picked up and whirled around in a circle by Roger, then moments later, Krum did the same to Hermione. He turned away, but not so quickly that he couldn't watch Cedric do it to Cho. Did he dare attempt it, too?

Apparently, yes, he did, surprising them both when he was able to support her, even if it was just for a few moments that she was off the ground. The earrings that he had gotten her shook when she was in the air. When her feet touched the floor again, a silly (but cute) little grin was plastered on her face. "You're good at dancing," she said at last.

Harry shook his head. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm copying."

"You're good at copying, then."

Finally, the song ended, and the three schools clapped as the eight people left to go find somewhere to sit and eat. Harry and Maddie found a table where they could sit by Ron and Amber, who both seemed to be less than thrilled with their dates. Harry, however, was able to tune them out, focusing solely on the girl in front of him. They shared stories and laughs with one another throughout the evening, Harry finally able to forget everything that he had been feeling throughout the course of the school year.

After a while, he rested one hand on the table just inches away from hers, saying, "Y'know, your awkwardness is...really cute."

"Is it?" She was smiling, a beautiful smile, one that finally reached her eyes. He could feel himself literally drawn closer to her, and she giggled at this, saying, "Do I smell nice or something? You keep leaning in close to me."

"Uh, sorry." He straightened suddenly, feeling Ron and Amber watching him but ignoring it. "I didn't notice. But yes. You do."

"Care to dance some more?" she asked once their plates were clear. Harry stood and offered her a hand, and Amber asked Ron if he wanted to dance, but neither one made a move towards the dance floor the way that Harry and Maddie did. For much of the night, they were captivated by one another, getting closer and closer still to one another. Harry couldn't help but think that if he got too much more adrenaline in his system, he was finally going to let his walls come down and kiss her.

Cedric, on the other hand, was having a miserable night. When he and Cho sat down to eat, it had taken a considerable amount of time, considering all Cho wanted to do was talk. By herself. To Cedric. With no input from him. By the time they finally finished, Cho said, "Come on. This is my favorite song."

"You've said that about _every _song they've played."

"Well, this one really is my favorite!"

He had no choice but to follow her, keeping his eyes on Maddie and Harry, who weren't doing much dancing at that point, more swaying to the music if anything. He supposed that still counted as dancing, but they definitely weren't as active as some of the other couples at the ball—like Joseph and Eleanor, both of whom he had never seen happier in his life.

"Ow!" Cho's voice suddenly brought him out of his thoughts; she looked rather cross—or hurt. "Cedric, you stepped on my foot!"

He could feel a blush rising up in his cheeks. "Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry...do you want me to..."

"_No._ Just...forget it, okay?"

He tried to, but it just added to how incredibly rotten he was feeling. How did Cho not notice how tense he was? Or did she notice, and she was just better at hiding it than Maddie was? Merlin, Maddie was so perceptive, she would have noticed _anything._ He supposed that's why he had to be honest with her about what had happened from the get go...nothing ever got past her. And he loved it about her.

He loved everything about her.

_I've messed up,_ he thought, spinning Cho around at her beck and call, not of his own free will, with a blank expression on his face. _I've made mistakes before, but this takes the cake. At the very least, _he thought, looking at Maddie and Harry sadly, seeing the broad smile on her face that he had been unable to supply her with in months, _she's happy._

When the two of them disappeared about halfway through the evening, Cedric wanted to go excuse himself to sit down, and that he very nearly did, but Cho grabbed fast to his hand. "_Where_ do you think you're going?"

"To sit down?"

"The ball's just started!"

"It's already _ten!_"

"This is important to me, Cedric!"

"I know, but..."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Dance. With. _Me._"

He sighed, supposing he would just have to grit his teeth and bear it. Trying to keep up with Cho was very similar, he found, to trying to take a golden egg from a dragon: nearly impossible without magic. He felt like he needed some sort of spell or a potion to clear his head more than half the time when he was with her.

When slow songs came on, Cho was even worse. She was unable to keep her hands to herself. He knew that to the rest of the world, they had to look like the perfect couple. Because what more could two well liked Quidditch Seekers want but each other?

Cedric could think of a few things, that was for sure. What in the world was he even thinking in the first place? Sure, Cho was pretty. But he barely knew her when he went ahead and cheated on Maddie. Now that he knew her, he wished, more than anything, that he could take it back. Merlin, the word '_cheat_' sounded even worse than he had ever thought possible. It sounded even worse when it was paired with Maddie's tears and her heart being broken. But she seemed perfectly okay _now,_ didn't she?

He couldn't be angry at her. It wasn't her fault that he was an idiot, not at all. He wondered for a moment if she had been feeling the same things that he had been: sadness. Loneliness. Desperation...

He watched as Harry spun her around in a circle the same way that Cedric had done to Cho earlier. Apparently, he was alone in having these feelings. Cedric could feel his heart start to speed up and his breathing become more labored. He was angry. Harry was trying to get closer to his...just Maddie, no longer his.

"What are you looking at?" Cho asked at long last.

He shook his head, turning to look at Cho once again. "Nothing." _Keep it together, Cedric. Merlin, stop being so thick. She's not yours anymore and she never will be ever again._

"Have you noticed that Cedric is looking at us?" Harry asked after a while of dancing. He kind of liked the way that neither of them particularly knew what they were doing; it was oddly comforting to know that there was somebody in the school just as awkward and confused as he was. With Maddie Lewis, though, it was a good kind of awkward and weird...except for when he looked up and noticed that Cedric was watching them.

"I have."

"What do you think's going on with him?"

"I don't know, I'm not a guy. I don't know how they work!"

Harry laughed, putting his nonsweaty palm on her cheek. There was just so many things he loved about her. It was hard for him to believe that just a few months before, he had no idea that she even existed, or that she'd ever be this important to him. "Well, take it from me, the one glaring isn't exactly my make or model." He had begun to play with her hair, pushing the loose curls behind her ears slowly and softly, trying to prolong the feeling.

Maddie, too, laughed as the minutes trickled by like seconds. Before anyone could realize what had happened, the band that Dumbledore had hired to play, the Weird Sisters, had played their last song and students began to trickle out of the Great Hall. Amber had run off long before with a boy from Beauxbatons, apparently frustrated that her longtime crush on Ron had come to a brutal end after just one night. Ron, in the meantime, had found Harry and Maddie, who were both surprised to see Hermione following him.

"It's hot, isn't it?" she said, fanning herself with her hands.

"_Vicky_ doesn't want to take you to say good night?"

"Ron, what—?"

"He's from Durmstrang!" Ron suddenly seemed very heated; Maddie, without realizing it, crept closer to Harry, as though for comfort or support, who grabbed onto her wrist as though he planned to do just that. "He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You—you're—" Ron was obviously casting around for words strong enough to describe Hermione's crime, "_fraternizing with the enemy!_"

Hermione's mouth dropped open, and it was a moment before she could speak. "Don't be so stupid! The _enemy!_"

"Let's go," Harry said quietly to Maddie as his two friends started to argue. After they made their way to the entrance hall, he grabbed hold of her hand in his. It was too cold to sweat now, and to be quite honest, he didn't care if he did. Maddie Lewis simply had that effect on him.

They started off in the direction of the Hufflepuff dormitories when Harry thought back to Ron's teasing the other day after Hogsmeade: _"At the ball...are you going to kiss her?" _Harry thought a very long time before going to do it. If he was going to do this, he had to do it right.

He squeezed her hand as they got to the staircase that led in the direction of the Hufflepuff dormitories, making her stop dead in her tracks. They were close now, very close, very nearly touching apart from where their fingers were laced together. "Maddie," he said quietly.

"Harry?" she said back.

"I just wanted to tell you that I..."

"Hey—Harry!"

Harry and Maddie turned, and Harry's heart nearly stopped beating when he saw who was coming this way. It was Cedric Diggory.

"What does he want?" he grumbled to Maddie, who suddenly seemed much more shy and reserved than she had moments earlier. "Yeah?" Harry said coldly as Cedric hurried up the stairs toward them. At the bottom of the stairs, Harry could see Cho waiting, her arms crossed over her chest, apparently very impatient.

Cedric looked as though he didn't want to say whatever it was in front of Maddie, but that he also didn't want to say anything to her. After a moment, he muttered, "Excuse me," to her and grabbed Harry's arm, leading him down the steps a little bit before he said, "Listen...I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that golden egg? Does yours wail when you open it?"

"Yeah."

Cedric cringed noticeably, apparently remembering what had happened when he had opened his. He regained his composure, however, when he said, "Well...take a bath, okay?"

"What?" Was this some new kind of way of telling Harry to get lost?

"Take a bath, and—er—take the egg with you and—er—just mull things over in the hot water. It'll help you think. Trust me."

Was this guy _for real?_

"Tell you what," Cedric continued. "Use the prefects' bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's 'pine fresh'. Gotta go..._someone _wants me to say good night."

Cedric sounded very bitter at this last part, turning around and taking off down the stairs again. He was in a hurry this time around, too, but either this was a hurry to get this done, or a hurry to keep his date satisfied.

Harry stared off after Cedric, wondering why in the world the other boy would _help him _after all that had happened, and shook his head, climbing the stairs up to Maddie again, forgetting almost completely about what he had set out to do. "He seemed angry," she said once he rejoined her. "He just...walked off."

"He has that habit, I've noticed."

"What was that about?" she asked.

"He...wanted to repay me. For telling him about the dragons."

"Oh. I thought..." She suddenly stopped talking, as though she thought she had said too much.

Harry knew precisely what she was thinking. "You thought he said something about you, didn't he?"

She looked at the ground, tears forming in her eyes. "I know I should just give it up, but..."

He hated to see her cry. It downright killed him. He put an arm around her shoulder, walking her back to her common room as he said, "I know, Maddie, it's hard. He's just not that friend anymore. But that's what people do. They change. Factors come in, like reputation. And they blind you. And in a big game like this... The whole tournament—it's gone to his already bulbous head."

She nodded, though she seemed downright crushed by this statement. "Thank you for everything, Harry."

He hadn't noticed that they were now outside of the Hufflepuff common room, where a small pile of barrels was sitting. She was getting her wand out; apparently, the barrels had to be tapped in a certain order to gain entry, similar to the entryway to Diagon Alley.

"No problem," he said at long last, saddened that she was going to let a stupid person like Cedric ruin the perfect night that they shared. "Merry Christmas, Maddie."

"Merry Christmas, Harry," she whispered. And before he knew what had happened, she stood on her tiptoes (she certainly was on the short side) and placed a quick, warm kiss to his cheek, so close to the corner of his mouth that he almost could have said it had landed there. For a moment, he forget where he was or what he was doing there. But then she returned to her normal height and said, "I'll see you around," and turned to go get inside the common room.

"See you," he called, a bit dazed, and walked back to Gryffindor tower. When he fell asleep that night, his skin still tingled and burned from where she had kissed him.

* * *

><p>Cedric was a bit surprised to find that he was the first one of his friends back to their dormitory, but he quickly sat down on his bed, his head throbbing something terrible.<p>

Maddie had looked like a dream come true that night...like Harry's dream come true. God, he truly must have been the world's biggest idiot. He must have done something horrible in a past life to have managed to ruin everything so badly in this one.

He didn't hear the door open, but when Joseph entered, he immediately started telling Cedric about the wonderful night that he had. Cedric wanted to feel good for his friend, he really did. He knew how much Joseph fancied Eleanor, and he was so pleased that Joseph had finally worked up the nerve to talk to her. But at the same time, Cedric needed sleep. He needed to clear his pounding head.

He should have ended things with Cho when he went back to say good night. But he was just so angry at himself that the thought had slipped his mind. He supposed it was better to be angry with himself than with Cho, Harry, or Maddie, though. None of _them_ were at fault. Just him, and his stupid ego that seemed to matter more to him than the best friend he had ever, and would ever, have.

"Hey, Ced...is everything okay? You seem...off."

Cedric sighed, finally looking at Joseph and standing to his full height. "Okay. Say it. Go on. Tell me I'm an idiot."

"Okay...you're an idiot."

He frowned. "Thanks, Joseph."

"Now that we've cleared the air... _Why_ exactly are you an idiot?"

"You've _got _to be kidding me." Joseph raised a brow, perplexed, but before he could ask any questions, all of Cedric's pent up anger came flooding out in a yell. "You saw her there tonight! You saw how beautiful she was! How happy she seemed! God, why couldn't I have seen her that way before?"

"Who—Cho?"

"Cho? _Cho?_" Cedric started to laugh, so hard that he thought for a moment that he was going to fall over. It really wasn't funny, he reflected, so why in the world was he laughing? It was terrible, really, to realize something so important so late. "Of course not! I'm talking about Maddie!"

There was a heavy silence for a few moments. "Are you serious?"

"_Of course I'm serious!_ God, I'm thick, aren't I? I do everything in the world to get this girl, then I treat her like garbage, and I don't even realize how perfect she is until she's in another man's arms! God, what does Harry have that I don't?"

"I think..."

"He has _her! _And I know I deserve that, but I can't stop being so angry with myself!"

"Cedric, maybe..."

"And I get now what you've been trying to say to me from the beginning, okay? I get it. I'm stupid, and I've messed up, but I can't fix that now, and she's off crying to somebody else, and then that somebody steals my girl—who I don't even deserve to have! Why in the world did I..."

"Cedric. _Listen to me._" He suddenly stopped talking mid sentence, looking at Joseph, who had (as he suddenly became aware) been trying to get his input in for the vast majority of the conversation. "What's going on?"

"_Maddie looked so beautiful tonight._"

"Okay...aren't you the one that said that you didn't care about her the same way anymore?"

"I thought I didn't. And then I saw her tonight—and I've never seen her so beautiful in my entire life, Joseph. It was enough to have me falling for her all over again."

"And the problem is—?"

"I'm with Cho now. I don't want to be, but I am. I'm such an idiot, Joseph. Why in the world have you been kind to me the past few months?"

"Because I knew that you needed the guidance." What really surprised Cedric was the fact that Joseph was speaking in a quiet, even voice. Was he...proud? "To be quite frank with you, when you told me what happened a while ago, my first thought was, 'How in the world did somebody like him ever get called a trustworthy, loyal Hufflepuff? All he is, is an arrogant, hotheaded git. He's cheating on her. How could he do that? He's so disgusting.' And that's when I realized just how badly this has been affecting you."

Cedric could feel himself calming down a little bit. "What do you mean by that?"

"You haven't been you since this entire thing has started. I think you've always known how you feel about Maddie, but instead of owning up to your mistake and moving forward from it like you should have, you just gave up trying."

"She'll never forgive me, Joseph, no matter what."

"Yes, she will, Cedric." Joseph sat Cedric down on his bed, and then Joseph crossed the room to his own, so that they were facing each other. "You've made mistakes before, and she's overlooked them. I don't understand why she does, but she does, repeatedly. It will definitely take some time, but you can get her to forgive you. She forgave you when you entered yourself in the tournament, she can forgive you for this. It's sure as hell not going to be easy, Cedric. It's going to be really hard. But I know that you want this. It is possible. And if you'd like, I can tell you all what you need to do. I've been told by some people"—he gave Cedric a knowing grin—"that I'm good at it."

"Actually, what I need right now is sleep," Cedric said, reaching down under his bed and into his trunk, grabbing his pajamas. When he straightened, he saw that Joseph had set about untying his shoes, too, and with his friend distracted, he stripped out of his dress robes, stepping into the trousers of his sleepwear.

"You know," Joseph said, permeating the silence once more, "you're not the only one who saw a beautiful girl at the ball tonight."

Cedric raised a brow. "Yeah?"

"Eleanor looked _amazing._"

Cedric grinned, though he was exhausted and still angry with himself. "I'm real happy for you, mate."

"Thanks, Ced. Figured it was my turn to get a girlfriend after all this time."

Cedric laughed, then climbed into bed. He was glad, for one thing, that things no longer seemed awkward between him and Joseph. Though it had seemed impossible when he came into the common room that night, he now felt a new kind of hope that he and Maddie would be able to fix things between them. When John, Edward, and Liam finally came in, Cedric had already drifted off to sleep, knowing fully well that the next thing he would have to do would be to find Cho. If he didn't set things right soon, they'd never be resolved.

* * *

><p><strong>OKAY SUPER LONG YULE BALL CHAPTER IS DONE. Yayyy party time~<strong>

**Okay, I know I promised this on Christmas...and I know I promise to get certain chapters up on certain dates all the time...and I know I promise that and sometimes it doesn't happen... BUT THIS TIME, IT ACTUALLY WAS NOT MY FAULT. FanFiction, as I'm sure some of you know, crashed on Christmas (which was yesterday/a few hours ago), so that nobody was able to log in. Apparently, a bunch of other writers had the same idea that I did to upload Christmas stories on Christmas. Oops.**

**So the next update can (hopefully) be expected on the 27th which is technically tomorrow but hey what can you do. Did everybody have a good Christmoos (inside joke, long story)? Or if you don't celebrate Christmas/Christmoos, I hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays and the end of the year! Okay, so now, next hint for my name is that has an English origin. :D ****Please review!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	14. The End of the Beginning

When Cedric woke up the following morning, he set about to look for Cho all over the school, but was unable to locate her anywhere. A friend of Cho's just before curfew had said that she had spent most of the day in her dorm, telling her friends all about the evening prior. This friend said that she'd be sure to pass the message on to Cho that Cedric wanted to see her the following day at the statue of Artemis next to the Transfiguration room that was just down the hall from the Ravenclaw common room at ten in the morning. From there, Cedric went back to the common room, suddenly feeling frightful. It was one thing to just think about breaking all ties with Cho. Actually doing it was something else.

"What's up?" Joseph asked when their friends had decided to go to dinner and Cedric claimed that he wasn't hungry.

"I have to break up with Cho."

"You told me this yesterday."

"_I have to _now, though. Yesterday I just _wanted to._"

"I guess I'm not seeing the problem here."

He didn't expect Joseph to understand, but he sighed and sat up straighter in his chair before the fire. "I'm downright terrified to do it."

"But it'll be for the better. You know that."

"Yes. But _you_ don't know Cho."

If he was being honest with himself, Cedric wasn't so sure that he knew Cho, either, or that he had ever known her. And as much as he knew this was the right thing, a part of him couldn't help but feel guilty. It was bad enough that Maddie had figured out something was wrong; this time around, Cho had no idea in the slightest what was about to befall her.

That night, he hardly slept, tossing and turning all night. He must have been noisy, because about halfway through the night, Edward threw a pillow at him, calling, "Go to sleep, Ced," and John let out a groan of frustration, as though he had been woken by their friend, too.

Joseph typically woke up when the first weak rays of sun fell in through the window, and so, around five in the morning (though the sun wasn't nearly up yet), he too was up following Cedric's restless night. "Everything okay?" he asked quietly, so as not to disturb their sleeping roommates yet again.

"I'm going to tell Cho about Maddie."

That suddenly had Joseph's attention; he sat up straighter, looking at Cedric in concern. "You're joking."

"No." He shook his head. "I was thinking about what you said. It's...not fair to either of them if I don't say something. I need to be honest about it."

There was a long silence, then Joseph said, "Well, I'm glad you've come around, mate. And maybe you should try going back to sleep."

Cedric nodded, and he closed his eyes, suddenly falling asleep almost immediately. He had a dreamless sleep, just the way he liked it. Otherwise, he might end up having dreams that he had had the night before the Yule Ball, and that was where the trouble came from. When he woke up in the morning, all of his roommates were awake. "Well, well, well," Liam said loudly, teasing Cedric, "if it isn't Sleeping Beauty himself!"

"Shove off," Cedric said, stretching and looking out a window. "What time is it?"

"Ten fifteen," John said, grabbing some jeans out of his trunk.

"_WHAT?!_" Cedric bolted out of bed, grabbing some jeans himself and ripping off his pajamas. His roommates all stared at him with perplexed expressions. "I've got to go!" he snapped at all of them, throwing the jeans on and slipping on a jacket over his pajama shirt, stepping into trainers as he left the room. "I promised to meet someone at the place next to the place!"

He ran out of the room then, running down the stairs in the Hufflepuff common room and practically flying through the castle. It was bad enough that he was going to break up with Cho; it was another thing entirely that he was going to be _late _in doing so. When he finally reached the statue of Artemis, Cho was looking very displeased with him, her arms crossed dangerously over her chest and tapping her right foot impatiently.

"Well," she spat, "it's about _time _you showed up."

"I'm sorry," he said, struggling to even his breath, "I overslept and..."

"You're fifteen minutes late!"

"I know, and I'm sorry, but..."

"Don't bother. How's it going with you?" She could switch from extremely annoyed to overly peppy in just _seconds. _The way Cedric saw it, she was about to make another drastic personality change once he came out with what he had to say to her.

He sighed. "Cho..."

She giggled. "Yes, Cedric?"

He took a deep breath and found himself using the words he had said to Maddie when they broke up: "We need to talk."

She frowned, looking a little concerned. "Is everything alright?"

He shook his head. "I really wish I could say that everything _is _alright, but...no, nothing's alright."

Cho's eyes suddenly filled with tears. _Good God, not again. _Breaking up with someone, he found, was not a very fun business; both girls had started to cry when this had happened. "What did I do? Was it something I said? What's the matter, honey?"

_Honey?_

"No, it has nothing to do with you," he reassured her. "I mean that. I know people must say that all the time, but I mean it, Cho. It has _nothing _to do with you. I just...I don't deserve you, okay?"

The tears were suddenly gone. "Oh, but I don't deserve _you._" She was missing the point. As long as he lived, he was sure he would never deserve Cho, or Maddie for that matter, either. He would never deserve to be with somebody who was so good and kind, and didn't cheat on their significant others. "Are you just concerned because you think I'm just _so perfect?_ I mean, I kind of saw this coming"—wait, _what?_—"but _you're_ the perfect one, Cedric, you're a great person, and you're so sweet and kind to me! How could I..."

"Cho, I'm sorry, but we really need to break up."

She stopped talking immediately. "What in the world is going on?"

"Cho, it's nothing to do with you, I promise you that. You're a great girl, okay? You don't deserve somebody like me ruining your life."

"Ruining my life? Cedric, you're scaring me. What're you talking about?"

Now was the time to come out with it. There was no beating around the bush. He had to be completely honest with her. He closed his eyes, trying to think of how to begin. Having to tell Maddie this was already bad enough, but it was much harder to do with Cho, and he couldn't figure why. Was it because he was coming clean of his own accord? Or did it have something to do with the other girl?

"Listen, Cho. I'm so sorry, but...I wouldn't feel..._right _being in a relationship with you, because...because I was seeing another girl when I was seeing you."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. Unlike Maddie, who seemed to not have understood Cedric when he confessed to cheating on her, Cho seemed to be getting the message loud and clear. That was only making the entire ordeal worse.

"You were_ cheating _on me?"

"Well, technically speaking, I was cheating _with _you, Cho."

"_With me?_" It seemed as though she didn't believe a word of this. "I didn't even know you were in a relationship to begin with! How long has this been going on?"

"Well, I didn't really tell people about her. We broke up, actually, about two months ago...I told her about you."

What was killing him was how vastly different reactions the two girls had had. Maddie had seemed so upset, so heartbroken. But Cho seemed so...was it _anger?_ Was she _angry _that Maddie existed?

"Who was she?"

"Listen, Cho, before I begin, she's much younger than I am..."

"Younger? How much younger? What was she, a first year?"

"No, not quite...a third."

"What would you want with a _third year?_"

"She was my best friend before she was my girlfriend."

"And you _cheated on her?_"

He nodded sadly, feeling as disgusted with himself as Cho apparently was. "I did." He shouldn't have done it, he knew that. Cho's reaction was just making it so much worse. He couldn't see how he was supposed to gain the courage to go set things straight after this was done. But then, thoughts of Maddie just two days before filled his head, how beautiful she had looked at the ball, and how happy. She was so pure and beautiful. Why hadn't he seen it before?

"_Who was she?_" she repeated.

He took a deep breath. "Maddie Lewis."

"Maddie Lewis?" Cedric couldn't tell whether Cho recognized Maddie and was therefore disgusted (or jealous), or whether she had never heard this name before. "She's the blonde one with the glasses, right? Went to the Yule Ball with Harry Potter?"

Cedric nodded, thinking back to that moment and feeling a flare of jealousy himself. "That's the one."

"I don't believe this."

"Look, Cho, like I said, I'm so sorry. This really doesn't change my opinion of you, I want you to know..."

She cut him off then, spitting out at him, "Why in the world would you want somebody like her? Did you want her?"

"I..."

"If you did, you'd be a perfect match! Weak hearted, dramatic, and she's the perfect coward to hide behind you!"

Cedric was, needless to say, shocked by this outburst. Was this just simple jealousy? Or was this her true feelings about the two of them? "Cho, that's not fair."

"Let me tell you something," she said, ignoring him completely and jabbing a finger straight into his chest bitterly. "I didn't come here because I needed the company! I'm twice the girl, twice the _woman _she is!" With this outburst, she pushed her finger into his chest again. "When you're done snogging her, don't come bothering me!"

"Well, to be quite honest with you, I wasn't planning on it," he said rudely. "I hope you find someone who's a good match for you."

"You hope I—how _dare _you!" Cho was downright beginning to frighten him, but his anger at what she had said about Maddie was boiling up inside him so much that he was willing to ignore the fear that she ignited. "You know what, I was going to spread around that you were dating her, but who would believe me? _I _don't even believe it, and I'm listening to it myself. Well, I hope you have a nice life with your _daughter._"

"That's it, Cho!" He had been trying to keep his cool, but at that point, it was too difficult for him. "I honestly don't give a damn what you tell people, okay? I don't even care if you tell them that I broke up with you to pursue a bloke or a hippogriff, I really don't even care. It's one thing for you to insult _me,_ but to bring Maddie into this...that's where I draw the line! You think you're twice the woman that she is? I frankly wish you could be half. She never has to resort to insulting others to get some kind of joy in life!"

"It's not an insult if what you're saying is the truth!"

"Dammit, Cho, I'm done with you, okay? Nothing you say is going to change my mind. Listen, I thought you were a nice girl, but if you're going to say things like this, then I really regret ever getting to know you. That really says a lot about your character."

"So says the cheater!" She put her hands on her hips dangerously, shouting, "Fine! I'm gone. This time, if you or your _girlfriend _fall over for dramatic practice, I'm not going to look twice! Have a nice life, Cedric Diggory!"

She walked off in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room again, and Cedric too took off for his own common room, feeling a bit confused—and as though he needed yet another nap. He had to hand it to Joseph, though; this truly was the right thing for him to do. It wasn't fair to either of them to stay in a relationship with all of this in his past. Now, all he had to do was find Maddie and apologize, which he somehow imagined being ten times harder than even _that _conversation had been.

* * *

><p>When he got back to the common room, all four of his friends were sitting before the fire playing Exploding Snap. It was Liam's turn when he entered, and it was this friend who said, "How'd the champion doing on this fine day?"<p>

"I don't know," Cedric said back.

"How's your girlfriend?" he teased.

"Don't have one."

"What?" John, Liam, and Edward said together; at that moment, Liam's hand of cards spontaneously burst into flames and he dropped the cards, which had singed his fingers, with a grimace. All three of them were standing and striding over to him looking a bit concerned, Joseph following closely behind and looking almost..._proud._

"I broke up with Cho," he said, shrugging. "And if our last conversation was any indication, it was long overdue." It wasn't just that last conversation, he reflected. It was _every conversation _they had ever had. He didn't dare tell his friends this.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, man," Edward said.

"I don't get it," Liam said, looking vastly confused. "Everything seemed so _good _for you guys!"

"Nothing has been good for a while," Cedric said.

Three of his friends went back to their game, but Joseph lingered behind a moment. "Are you going to talk to Maddie now?"

Cedric nodded, suddenly feeling like the weight of the world had fallen off his shoulder in the time being. "I was just going to see if I could find one of her friends, see if any of them know where she is."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's Allison over there, talking to Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," Joseph said, nodding towards the back corner of the room. Sure enough, there stood Allison, Maddie's tall and lanky friend who towered above Ernie and Hannah almost completely, despite being younger than them. Though her fourteenth birthday was approaching, she still was much, much taller than most of her year, and so spotting her was fairly easy. Joseph saw the concerned expression on Cedric's face and sighed. "Hey."

Cedric looked at him then. "Yeah?"

"Everything's going to be okay. Just remember that you have to be sincere, and pretty soon, she'll probably loosen up a bit. And trust me. I know you want to talk to her again. She's sure to figure it out, too."

Cedric nodded, then said, "I'm going to go," and crossed the room to Allison. He cleared his throat as he approached, and the conversation between the three of them ceased suddenly. "Excuse me. Allison?"

"Yes?" the tall brunette said, looking a bit confused.

"You're one of Maddie's friends?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Have you seen her around anywhere? I really need to talk to her."

"Well, she said she was going to go out on the grounds, past the Herbology greenhouses and not that far from the Black Lake. But that was half an hour ago. And something tells me she wouldn't exactly be dying to talk to you right..."

"Thanks." He walked off before she could say another word, hurrying back to his dorm and grabbing a coat. If Allison was correct and Maddie was still outside, he was going to need to keep warm. It would have been a nice touch to have been sniffling while he begged for her mercy, but he was not prepared to do such a thing. He needed to stay composed while he spoke to her, more composed than he had been the last time almost two months before.

* * *

><p>Maddie originally had gone out to the grounds to study, but she would have forgotten her head if it wasn't attached; it wasn't until she had settled herself on the ground, leaning against a tree before the Black Lake, that she realized that she had neither brought a textbook nor a set of notes. She considered going back—but what was the point? It might do her good to clear her head a bit...<p>

"Hey."

She turned to the sound of the voice, a bit surprised to find Cedric standing before her. No, 'a bit' didn't _nearly _cover it. Her heart began to pound wildly in her chest—not from attraction, she realized, but from surprise, and fear, and anger. What in the world was he doing there?

"Hi," she said back, a bit cold for her usual self, but nothing too out of the ordinary for a normal person.

"You come out here to think, too?"

"Recently, I have."

He sat down on the ground next to her, noticeably shivering as he did so. He was watching her; she could see it out of the corner of her eyes. She stared out at the water with unwavering eyes, refusing to look at him.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked, looking at the thin jacket that she was wearing. He was shivering himself, and he had on a heavy coat; she barely had herself covered. He started to unbutton the jacket, as though he was going to offer it to her...

"What are you doing here?" she asked, stopping him dead in his tracks. "What do you want from me?"

He looked at her with a sad expression on his face—a sad and tired expression. "I want to talk to you. I...miss hearing your voice."

She raised a brow at him, rather nonplussed at the statement. He wanted to talk to her? He missed hearing her voice? "Oh?"

All he could find himself doing was nod, then he joined her at staring out at the water. She tried to focus on the way that the sun was starting to reflect off of the water, rather than bring herself to look at him...

"I broke up with Cho."

That made it a little hard to ignore him, so she forced herself to look away from the water, feeling the shock straight down to her bones. There was no way she had heard him correctly. "You did _what?_"

He nodded, as though confirming that she had heard him correctly. "Mental, that one. Completely obsessed with me. It was daunting, I'm telling you." He put his hands together and started to rub them together, as though for warmth, but it almost seemed as though he was starving for human interaction.

"But—but I thought you were..."

"You thought what?"

Her voice dropped to a whisper, with tears in her eyes. "I thought you were in love with her."

"Maddie, no." Cedric wiped some stray tears off of her cheeks, looking as though there wasn't anything that he wanted more than to kiss Maddie. She turned away upon seeing this, and he said, more to the ground than to her, "I'm not in love. Not with her. She's not anything special."

"Then why did you cheat on me?" She was unable to hide the tears now, because they were gripping and made her entire body shake. Cedric didn't know what to do. What in the world was he to do when he saw a girl crying? There had to be _some _kind of procedure, didn't there?

"I don't know. Because I was stupid. Because my friends made me think there was something wrong with you. Because I didn't realize then what I know now...that you are, without a doubt, the most insanely beautiful girl I've ever met, and that you're just so amazing."

Maddie was crying so hard that all she could do was hug her knees into her chest and shake her head 'no'. "I'm not anything special," she breathed out.

"Maddie, you're fooling yourself. Of course you are. And I was a fool for doing what I did to you." Cedric suddenly got the inspiration to reach out and put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing her back soothingly. "I should have realized right away that I should have chased after you. I shouldn't have let you go without a fight last time. And I'm so sorry, Mad. I'm so, so sorry. I would do anything in the world to prove that to you." Tears were forming in Cedric's eyes, too, but he was better at hiding them than she was, and so, when she looked at him a few moments later, it was as though the tears had never been there. "I would do absolutely anything in the world for you, to prove that I care about you. I would do anything to even _deserve _you, or be on the same page as you."

Maddie stared at him, unable to find her voice to say anything.

He sighed, realizing what he was doing with his hand and pulling it off her back. "Go on. Say it. I know what you're thinking. That you wish I would just leave you alone. That I'm stupid. That..."

"Cedric." He stopped talking then, looking at her patiently. "I wasn't thinking any of that, it's just... Well, I don't know if we can just act like nothing ever happened between us."

"I wasn't expecting that," he said. _But I was certainly hoping for it. _"Can you just...could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"I...I don't know," she said at long last. "I mean, I can try. But for the two of us to be on speaking terms again...I don't know if I can just go back to that so easily, Cedric."

"I understand, Maddie. I really do." That wasn't a lie, but it certainly was painful for him to admit. "If the tables were turned and it was me that this happened to, I think I would feel exactly the same. I don't want to bother you anymore."

"I'm glad you understand." She seemed ready to go, so Cedric leaped to his feet beside her.

"I'm glad you listened to me, Maddie. I don't even deserve that much from you. And—Maddie?" He held out a hand to help her stand up before he said, "Thank you so much for this. I really am so sorry I ever cheated on you. I can't believe I ever did that. It just wasn't worth that."

She nodded. Cedric braced himself for a hug, but she simply (and awkwardly) said, "I'll see you around," and walked back to the castle. Cedric watched her retreating figure with a look of dismay on his face, caught a bit off guard when a voice behind him started to yell...

"I'm here!" Joseph was running up to him, looking a bit out of breath, as though he had been searching the entire school for them. "Maddie, you—_you have to accept his apology!_"

"She's gone, Joseph," Cedric said sadly.

"_Merlin._" Joseph leaned forward, pressing his hands into his knees as he struggled to breathe. "Have you ever noticed how big this school is before, Cedric?"

"I think you're the only one who hasn't."

"Well, did you do it?" Joseph asked as he finally started to catch his breath. "Did you apologize?"

"I tried to, but she said she's not sure she can accept it." It wasn't as though he wasn't expecting this, but admitting it hurt him. He longed to have a second chance with Maddie, if not to be her boyfriend than to be her friend at the very least. She was the most amazing friend he had ever had; he wished more than anything he hadn't gone and ruined it. They started to walk back to the school then, Cedric digging his hands in his pockets and staring intently at the ground.

"Well, did you hear what she had to say, at least? That's all she ever wanted, Cedric, from anyone."

Cedric looked up at Joseph, who was staring back at him expectantly. Finally able to say that he was pleased with himself, Cedric nodded. "I did. I finally did."

* * *

><p><strong>Heyyyyyyyy guess who was late at updating again? That's right, Hatter was! :D Okay yeah I have no excuse but on the bright side, it's one AM here because I never sleep, so I'm only an hour late. Maybe I should stop promising these chapters on certain dates, because I haven't been getting them done. How was everyone's Christmas? I forgot to ask in the last update. I mean, I asked if you had a good one, but I didn't ask how it really went. Did you get everything you wanted? I did and more, I'm so thankful for all that I have. I seriously got seven books for Christmas, plus a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble (already spent $19 of it...oh dear) and another $25 gift card to the Kindle Store. I just love books okay-<strong>

**The books I got are _Staying Strong _by Demi Lovato, _The Vow _by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, _Fairest of All _by Serena Valentino, _Submarine _by Joe Dunthorne, _Hyperbole and a Half _by Allie Brosh, _It's Kind of a Funny Story _by Ned Vizinni, and _The Storyteller _by Jodi Picoult. Yesterday (actually, the twenty-sixth...yes, I had a death wish to go shopping the day after Christmas), I went to Barnes and Noble and got two more books: _The Boy in the Striped Pajamas _by John Boyne and _To Kill a Mockingbird _by Harper Lee. I've already read _To Kill a Mockingbird,_ but part of my English homework over break is to reread a book that I enjoyed that I've read at some point in high school, and that one is my favorite book I've ever had to read for school. I'm also waiting for my local bookstore to get a copy of _Me and Earl and the Dying Girl _by Jesse Andrews, so I'll pick that up when it comes in. Also, I have a question for you all: I'm planning to reorganize my bookshelf tomorrow. I was wondering whether I should organize it: A. alphabetically by authors, B. alphabetically by titles, or C. be really creative and make a rainbow? I'm partial to the last one, but others have said I should just go with A. We'll see how it goes.**

**Alright, you know the drill. The next update can hopefully be expected on Tuesday (12/31), and my name is more common as a nickname than as a given name. Part of the reason why I ended up using 'Maddie' as my main character's name, since it's a more common nickname than a first name. Please be sure to review. Hope you don't kill me for the next update.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	15. It's Over

When classes resumed all too quickly after break, Harry and Ron felt closer than ever, and it was because of this that one day Ron asked Harry the question: "Are you going to see _your girlfriend _tonight?"

"Not tonight," was the answer.

"So she is your girlfriend, then?" Ron asked, suddenly interested.

"Well...yeah, I guess she is," Harry said, blushing a brilliant shade of red, similar to the potion they were meant to be brewing in Professor Snape's class. It was much more interesting to be talking, however, and since Snape was preoccupied with what Neville was doing with his cauldron, Harry and Ron were left alone to do what they did best: catch up with one another.

"Well, congrats," Ron said, poking his textbook with his wand. "You don't happen to know what this is, do you?"

The conversation was subsequently dropped, and Harry went back to the common room with Ron before dinner to drop off his things. Maddie was awfully busy, it seemed, with all of her classes, so they very rarely saw one another at that point. However, they had plans the following day following dinner to meet each other in the library so that they could talk and catch up with one another. Harry also hoped that she would be able to help him write an essay for Professor McGonagall. She _was _extremely intelligent.

Thus, when they met the next day and he told her about the essay, she immediately took him to a section of the library where she knew a collection of books on Transfiguration were. The particular essay was supposed to be filled with plenty of research, so already, many titles were missing from the shelves. That didn't stop Maddie, though, from picking up a thick read book titled _All You Need to Know About the History of Transfiguration_ by Tobias G. Mercer.

Soon after this, Harry told her, "You're the best."

Maddie blushed a shade of red that was oddly similar to Harry's complexion in Potions the day before. "Because I read textbooks for fun?"

"You've read this one already?"

She nodded. "In chapter fourteen, there's a section that I think will help you with your essay, on famous breeches of magical secrecy in the field of Transfiguration."

He then took the book up to Madame Pince and checked it out, then immediately went back to the table where Maddie had settled herself. He put the book on the table and pulled up a chair, not wasting any time in saying, "I've told Ron that you're my girlfriend."

She froze, as she had been turning a page in a book that she had open as well. "You what?"

"That _is _what we are, isn't it?"

"Well, I...I guess so." She smiled, but the blush crept down her face and onto her collarbones.

"Great. Brilliant. Um...can I see you in Hogsmeade next weekend? That's when the next trip is."

"Sure."

Immediately, she buried herself in her book again, and Harry sighed, flipping through his own tome to the chapter she had mentioned. There, on the first page, was an ugly picture of a man who had transfigured half of his body to look like a hippogriff, but the other half looked oddly human. Skimming through the chapter, Harry immediately found a mention of the spell that he had needed and how the practitioners rarely, if ever, got the spell correctly on the first try.

He glanced up at Maddie, who was reading over the top of her glasses. He should have chosen another location for their date (if it could have been called that); she was so bookish that she had no reservations about reading in silence.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth and he ended up saying, "Do you know any other books on this subject?"

She looked up at him again and nodded. "There's _Magical Maladies in the Art of Transfiguration,_ and _When Magic Hurts..._"

"Thanks."

He mentally cursed himself for asking such a stupid question. _You're so smooth, Harry. That was really brilliant._ Miserably, he turned back to the book, a bit shocked when Maddie spoke up of her own accord...

"I've started speaking to Cedric again."

Harry looked up at her, sure he had misheard what she had said, but she was intently looking at the book, so as to avoid eye contact with him. He couldn't help but notice that it seemed as though she was not reading at all, but rather just staring at the page, as though looking for some sort of meaning in the words printed there.

"What?"

Maddie looked up at him almost fearfully. "Well, the other day I was..."

"You would _want _to talk to him after what he did to you?"

"He just..."

"Maddie, he _cheated _on you!"

This outburst turned a few heads, notably Madame Pince, who did not seem in the least bit pleased with Harry for making such a loud statement. For a moment, he regretted the comment, seeing how embarrassed she looked, but didn't she need to realize that Cedric was just not a good match for her, as a friend or otherwise?

"But he apologized to me," she said in a small, meek voice. "He's asked me to forgive..."

"_Forgive?_" He lowered his voice slightly, so as not to be overheard, but poured more anger into it to compensate for the lack of volume. "But he's such a jerk. Cedric won't even do something nice for you in the halls when his buddies are around. You shouldn't forgive him."

"I know that he wouldn't, but..."

"But what? He's an egotistical jerk who doesn't give a damn about your feelings! Why would you forgive him?"

"Because I would forgive you if you did something like that."

Those words shocked him straight to the core, but he couldn't come up with a better response than simply saying, "But I'm not Cedric."

"I know you're not. And to be quite honest, I'm glad you're not, because I don't think I want a carbon copy of _anyone _in my life, even Cedric. But he was my best friend, Harry. And he seemed so sincere when he apologized..."

"The apology doesn't negate what he did to you."

"Well, of course not!"

"So I find it hard to believe that somebody of your intelligence would just accept such a lousy apology. You deserve so much better than him. I know someone who cares a lot about you. _I_ really like you, Mad. And I'm really glad I could say this without Cedric around because _I_ would be proud of you, and I am already."

"But Harry..."

"But nothing. It's Cedric or me."

Suddenly, she stood, shoving her book back into her bag and saying, "I've got to get going. I lost track of time..."

From the way that her fingers tiptoed across her cheekbones, Harry figured that Maddie was crying. What had he said that had hurt her? The truth? It was true that Cedric was stupid. Why in the world didn't _she _see it? If there was one thing Harry had learned that year, it was that relationships were complicated.

* * *

><p>When Maddie returned to the common room that night, her head was still swimming from the conversation she had just had with Harry. As she ducked back into the basement that belonged to Hufflepuff house, she immediately set off in the direction of her dormitory, hoping that she hadn't been crying too hard after her conversation in the library...<p>

A voice stopped her dead in her tracks. "Hi."

She glanced up at the owner of the voice. "Hi, Cedric," she said, continuing straight to the dormitory.

"How've you been?"

They had resorted, once again, to awkward small talk. They hadn't had to do that in nine years. Funny how things could change so drastically in the course of one discussion with somebody.

"Fine. I've got to get going, sorry...I have a lot of homework." And she disappeared into the dormitory before he could say another word.

When she set down her bag, she started to rub the tears out of her eyes once again. Cedric hadn't noticed, had he? It hadn't seemed like it; it would have been in his nature to say something had he noticed. But he had been completely silent about that matter. And, if that conversation was any indication, it seemed like he truly did care about her. Maybe he had been honest in saying that he regretted what had happened between them...maybe he _was _sorry...

If only Harry would understand that there was more to the man than just the infidelity. There had to be. She had been his friend for nine years before that, and he was so much different than how he had seemed then. If she had taken one thing away from his behavior, it was that he regretted the entire thing completely and that he really had changed...for the better.

But still, whenever her friends asked about her and Harry, she tentatively told them that he was her boyfriend, and usually this came with a shy smile. The four of them seemed extremely giddy for her, wondering how in the world she got the attention of one of the two Triwizard Champions from Hogwarts. She usually had to fight with herself to keep from correcting them.

When it came time for her to meet up with Harry in Hogsmeade, she tried to dress warm, since it was cold in the village, but also appealing. She wasn't entirely sure how to do such a thing, since she and Cedric had never exactly been on many dates (namely because trying to maintain a secret relationship made it nearly impossible to do so). Still, Amber provided her two cents and even offered to braid her hair for her, which she accepted. Harry _did _like her with her hair out of her face. It only made sense to appease him.

He had said that he'd meet her at the Three Broomsticks, though Madam Puddifoot's was a more popular destination for couples. To Maddie, it didn't seem that Harry was very keen on normal couple things. Unlike many other boys in the school that she had seen, when he had asked her to go to the Yule Ball with him, he had been very low key and had even stammered a bit when he did it. He had no idea how to dance, and he never exactly asked her to be his girlfriend; he just kind of expected it.

Still, things felt very, very good for once in Maddie's life, though in Harry's world, nothing made sense in the slightest.

When he saw her enter the Three Broomsticks, he was dreading what he had to do. This conversation was not one that he really wanted to be having. She walked up to him then, a blush rising in her cheeks quickly. "Hi," she said.

"Er—hi, Maddie," he said back as she slid into a chair. "How—how've you been?"

"I've been well...did you finish that essay for Professor McGonagall?"

"Yeah, I did. Thanks for showing me those books."

"My pleasure."

They fell into an awkward silence, which was somehow made more awkward when a waitress came up to take their orders. They didn't speak until she came back with their drinks in hand, then she disappeared once more. Harry took a drink of his butterbeer before he finally mustered up the courage to say, "Have you been talking to Cedric lately?"

Maddie nearly burned her throat; she had her glass raised to her lips, but Harry's question caught her off guard and the liquid, which was scalding, went immediately into her mouth and down her throat. Sputtering a bit once she recovered, she answered, "Er—well, we say 'hello' every once in a while to each other..."

"Do you still think you ought to accept his apology?"

"He's changed Harry."

He laughed. "Yeah, he's changed. Once a cheater, always a cheater."

"Harry—knock it off!"

"I really don't like you talking to him, is all."

"Why? Because you think I'm going to cheat on _you?_" He, too, took a drink of his butterbeer. The way that he avoided the question clearly meant that yes, he did think such a thing. She could feel her cheeks burning bright red once again, and she could feel tears burning at the corners of her eyes. "Do you really think that little of me? Why in the world would you think such a thing?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're trying to be friends with somebody who did the worst possible thing to you?"

"You don't even know the half of it!" Tears were streaming down her face, but Harry somehow felt that this was the right thing to do.

"I think I do, Maddie. I think I know precisely. I think you're talking to Cedric again, and he did something horrible to you, and that your friends influence you more than you think."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?"

"That's precisely what I'm saying."

"You don't...why? What have _I_ done?"

"Talked to Cedric again?"

"If you can't even let me be friends with somebody...then why are we even in a relationship with each other?"

"Precisely what I was thinking."

"I—how long have you been thinking of this?"

"About two weeks now."

"And you haven't said anything earlier?"

"How was I supposed to say anything?"

"Well, you obviously have no reservations about saying anything now!"

She stood, threw down some money on the table (to pay for the drink, no doubt), and turned and ran out of the little shop once again. She was crying, and she hadn't even drank half of her butterbeer before she left. Harry leaned back in his chair and sighed. He knew that he had hurt her. But she was obviously choosing Cedric over him. Deciding to tell her all of these things was hard. It was the hardest decision he had ever made. But he knew she would be happier. It was for the better.

* * *

><p>It seemed like everyone had plans to go to Hogsmeade with a significant other that weekend (presumably people hooking up with their dates from the Yule Ball), as the Hufflepuff common room was very nearly empty. Typically, this was the house that had the most people remaining behind, and Joseph Dawson was usually one of these laggers. But Cedric was completely shocked when Joseph told him he was going to Hogsmeade that weekend.<p>

"Why? Have a date?" Cedric teased.

"Actually, I do," Joseph said, grinning. "Eleanor and I are going to Madame Puddifoot's."

"You really fancy Eleanor, don't you, Joseph?"

"Absolutely. You're not going this weekend?"

Cedric shook his head. "You're going with Eleanor, John's meeting up with Maxine, and Edward and Liam just want to have a snowball fight." Even though they were sixteen and seventeen years old, respectively, the two of them behaved like four year olds at times. That was one of those times. "And I don't exactly have a significant other that I'm dying to see."

"Well, don't stay cooped up in the common room all day, at least," Joseph said before he left. Cedric nodded after him, but pretty soon he settled himself down before the fire, not really having any desire to do much of anything. He could go to the library and find that book he needed for Herbology... Or maybe he could even go down to the greenhouses to see if Professor Sprout needed help with something... And there was that essay he needed to get done for Potions...

None of these ideas sounded the least bit appealing, so he simply remained in one spot, staring at the fire. He wondered for a moment what Cho was doing, if she was telling her friends that he had broken up with her, but he supposed that they already knew. Then he wondered whether she had said anything about him and Maddie... What did he care if she did, though? What were the odds that anyone would believe her? And it's not like it was a lie, either.

To his great surprise, only an hour or two after everyone cleared out to go to Hogsmeade, the door to the common room opened. Somebody was coming in... That somebody was Maddie, who was staring intently at the ground. He wanted to go strike up a conversation with her, but froze once he heard a sound that was definitely neither her footsteps nor the fire...

She was sobbing, and loudly.

"Maddie?" He was up off the sofa in seconds, crossing the room to her. "Mad, what's wrong?"

"Go away. Leave me alone."

He ignored what she said, grabbing onto one of her shoulders. "Maddie, why are you crying?"

"I don't want to talk about it, okay? Just go away."

"No, come here," he said, in a quiet, gentle voice as he began leading her over to the sofa. "Come on, just sit down...just calm down..."

She sank onto the sofa then, burying her face into her hands. Cedric sat next to her, wanting to comfort her in any way possible. Not knowing what to do, he repeated his actions from the last time that they had a serious conversation: he put a hand on her back and began to rub circles into it. It was hard to try to remain strong when he could feel every last one of her sobs under his hand, but he continued to rub her back, whispering comforting words into her ear: "Sssh, it's okay...just calm down, it'll be alright..."

Maddie began to catch her breath again, and as breathing became easier, Cedric asked her, "Now that you've calmed down a little bit, can you tell me what's wrong?" She turned away from him, and he sighed, knowing he'd have to force it out of her. "Maddie, I know you don't trust me, but I want to help you, okay? What's happened?"

She struggled to form words, finally spitting out, "It's...it's Harry. He said..." And she started to cry once again.

_Harry. _"What happened?" The question seemed to make it harder for her to gain composure, so he said gently, "Don't cry... What? Did? Harry? _Do?_"

Maddie finally calmed down enough to say, "Well...we were in Hogsmeade today..." She started to take deep, shaky breaths. "We were in Hogsmeade, and...and he broke up with me, Cedric."

Cedric was greatly surprised by this, mainly because he didn't know that they were dating in the first place. But he could see how greatly this was affecting her, so he just whispered out, "Oh, my...Maddie, I'm so sorry."

What he was really feeling was a sense of pain himself _for _her. It hurt him so much to see her in this kind of pain, especially caused by another person. Was this what he had put her through when he had cheated on her? It must have been. Merlin, he was so stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Before he could realize what was happening, Maddie was crying into his shoulder. Fighting back tears himself, Cedric wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair and whispering that everything was going to be okay. She then buried her head in his chest, sobbing harder, and he whispered into her hair, "Sssh...just let it out, it'll be okay."

After another few minutes of silence (apart from her sobs and the crackling of the fireplace), he said, in a normal voice, "Mad, look at me."

She looked up at him with tears running down her face, which he wiped away gently with his thumb. "I know that I'm probably not the person you want to come to with problems like this, but I want you to know that if you ever need anything, I'm always here for you. I know I made some stupid mistakes when it comes to you, but if there's one thing that this experience has taught me, it's that you are a strong, independent young woman."

Maddie shook her head, sniffling once before saying, "I'm not strong."

"Yes, you are."

"No, you don't understand..."

"Just because this has affected you like this...that doesn't mean you're not strong. I know it's not going to be easy, but this will pass with time, okay? I don't want to see you unhappy again. It...it really hurts me to see you this way."

"Why do you even care?"

"Because you are, without a doubt, the best friend I've ever had, and I was a fool for what I did to you. If I had one more chance to prove myself to you, I would do anything to prove it. I really care about you, Mad."

Had he said that any earlier, she wouldn't have believed it. But she couldn't ignore the look of hurt in his eyes, the way that he looked at her as though he wanted to get some sort of revenge on Harry for what he had done. She was crying again before she could stop it.

"Don't cry," he whispered. "Please, don't cry." He hugged her close to him, pulling her forehead onto his shoulder and rubbing her back soothingly once again. For a wild moment, she never wanted to leave his warm embrace. She had longed for this embrace for so long, though she knew that she shouldn't, and now that she felt it again, she never wanted to let go.

A loud voice suddenly called out, "Yeah? Well, tell us, was it everything you w..."

The voice stopped speaking as the door to the common room opened and the owner of the voice, with three others, entered. The four of them froze just inside the doorway, staring at the two intertwined with one another on the sofa.

Cedric, feeling the stares of his friends and not wanting them to get involved where they didn't need to be, whispered to Maddie, "Mad, you should go get some rest before dinner. At least go clean yourself up a bit. And once you go to sleep tonight, you'll feel so much better in the morning, okay? Just take care of yourself." He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as she walked away and into the dormitory.

"Are we interrupting something?" Liam asked.

Cedric looked up at the four of them—Liam, John, Edward, and Joseph—standing before him, all of them looking a bit puzzled. He glanced in the direction of the girls' dormitories, but Maddie was gone, then he turned his attention back to his friends and shook his head.

"No," Cedric said, standing up off the sofa and looking down at his sweater, which had a few tear stains on it.

"What was going on?" Edward asked.

"Nothing. Just comforting a friend."

"Are you two friends again?" John asked.

"Yes."

John wasn't done, though; he took a step closer to Cedric, narrowing his eyes. "Funny how just a few weeks ago she wouldn't even look in your direction."

"Yeah, and?"

"And now she's sobbing to you in the middle of the common room?"

"What was the matter?" Joseph asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"Nothing," Cedric said, shaking his head, but John was not satiated by this response.

"It's a little odd that a few weeks ago she seems to hate your existence, but now she'll come literally crying to you."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He left the common room then, and Cedric stared after him, feeling more and more confused by the second. But it wasn't just John that had him confused. It was also the fact that now, he didn't think that his feelings for Maddie were so clear cut again. He could feel himself bonding with her, feeling so emotionally close to her and craving more. He was fancying her, yet again.

Curse his bad luck.

* * *

><p><strong>I know this was the worst update in the history of updates but I got sidetracked today because we had a housekeeper come in today and I couldn't leave my bedroom and my computer that has all of my notes was in the room that our housekeeper was cleaning, and I had to get this done ASAP, so this seemed really...rushed? I may come in later and clean it up, we'll see.<strong>

**Alright, since you won't hear from me until January 4th, I hope you all have a fantastic new year! What resolutions are you planning on making? I want to get more active, eat better (which I started this year when I found out I was gluten intolerant), start dancing more (it used to be my life before I discovered books and writing), read more, love more, take school more seriously (I'm starting college/university in September! So crazy!), get more organized, and write. Especially that last one, since I'm writing a book on top of this fanfic.**

**Okay, next hint is that my name contains three vowels. Happy New Year, everyone!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	16. The Second Task

January soon spilled over into February, and couples all over school were celebrating Valentine's Day. John and Maxine had plans with each other; Joseph and Eleanor were getting closer and closer as the school year wore on; and there was a rumor going around that Cho Chang already had a new boyfriend, who had literally swept her off her feet after an Arithmancy class.

Though by no means did he miss having Cho as a girlfriend, this little development made Cedric feel awfully lonely. He remembered how just the year before on Valentine's Day he had no idea what to do, so he simply gave Maddie some chocolate that Liam had given him for Christmas that he hadn't much cared for. She wasn't the wiser, though, and accepted it gratefully. Her gift to him (a new set of Gobstones; he had mentioned _once _in passing that he had lost most of his old one and she apparently remembered this minute detail) had paled his in comparison, and he felt rotten about it for the rest of the month. Joseph had told him not to beat himself up over it too much; he _was _only sixteen and in his first ever relationship with a girl.

Yet now, when he looked at Joseph (who too was only sixteen and in his first relationship), his friend seemed to know precisely what to do for Valentine's Day. Reflecting, Cedric realized that it wasn't that he didn't know what to do. It was that he didn't know what he had: a perfect girlfriend, who he shouldn't have traded for the world.

This year for Valentine's Day, he got to watch the rest of the school be enamored by their partners and the castle decorated with little hearts and Cupids around every corner. It made him feel awfully lonely.

Once the fuss of Valentine's Day died down a bit, Cedric realized there were just days left until the Second Task of the tournament. This, he realized, was much worse than loneliness. This was sheer terror. Sure, he had figured out how to _listen _to the clue in the egg (courtesy of Professor Moody), and had been kind enough to pass the message on to Harry. But did he have any idea what the clue actually meant?_  
><em>

He hadn't the foggiest idea.

Just the day before, he could not sit still in Transfiguration, which aggravated Joseph to no end. At long last, he asked, "What's gotten your knickers in a twist?"

"Nervousness."

"Nervousness—nervous about what?"

"The Second Task is tomorrow."

"You ought to do fine."

"Not that simple," Cedric said as the bell rang, dismissing them from class. Professor McGonagall, who had also noticed Cedric's fidgetiness during class, sent him a blazing look as he and Joseph filed out the door. He ignored it, clenching and unclenching his fist that rested on the strap of his book bag.

When classes were finally over for the day, he went back to the common room, feeling less and less hopeful by the second. He had no idea what was in store for him the next day, which meant that, frankly, he had no idea what he was supposed to do in front of the entirety of the school—and Durmstrang and Beauxbatons as well. And surely, his father was going to hear about it, if the reporters that were at the First Task were any indication, which meant just futher embarrassment. It would be one thing if he knew what he was doing and performed well; then he could suffer the embarrassment of his father. But added on the idea of making a fool of himself in front of _everyone..._

"You never told me," Joseph said, once he, Liam, and Cedric were back inside the common room. "What exactly is 'not that simple' about the Second Task tomorrow?"

"The fact that I have no idea in the slightest what I'm doing."

"What do you mean you don't know what you're doing?" Liam asked.

"I mean, I have no idea what the Second Task is."

Joseph frowned, seemingly very angry with him. From behind them, the door to the common room opened, and there were approaching footsteps, but they all ignored them. "Cedric, you told me you figured out that clue weeks ago!" The footsteps stopped, and Cedric assumed that the passerby was eavesdropping, but he didn't bother to turn around to reprimand them.

"How to listen to it? Yes, I did. What it means? No, not at all."

"Well, what was the clue?"

"It was—well, it was a song. When I put the egg in the water, it sang to me, in a really beautiful voice."

"A _song?_" Liam looked dumbfounded. "A song after all that wailing?"

"Yes."

"What did the song _say?_" Joseph asked.

Cedric recited it from memory, feeling more and more confused and less and less hopeful with each part of the melody. "_Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground. An hour long you'll have to look to uncover what we took._"

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" a voice behind them asked.

"Jesus!" Liam spat, practically jumping out of his chair, then turning around to glare daggers at Maddie. "How long have you been standing there?"

Cedric ignored the both of them, turning his attention to Maddie, his heart beating wildly in his chest. "What's obvious?"

"The song is obviously about the Black Lake."

"How so?" She now had his full attention.

"The second line: _we cannot sing above the ground. _You said you could hear it only when it was in the water? The Black Lake is in ground, and it's a body of water, isn't it? And you said it sounded beautiful. It sounds like it was a mermaid singing."

"That's rubbish," Liam said, but Maddie interrupted him, looking agitated.

"_No, _because of that line again: _we cannot sing above the ground. _According to legend, mermaids sing to entice sailors and other people into going into their dwellings, but their voices can only be heard correctly in the water. Anywhere else, and it just sounds like a wailing."

"Alright, well, what does that last part mean? They took something from me?" Cedric asked.

"It sounds to me like they took something of yours, put it in the Black Lake, and you'll have an hour to go get it." She shrugged. "Simple, really."

Liam was looking just as lost as he usually did in a Potions lesson, seemingly absolutely astonished that she had called this task 'simple', then said to her, "Okay, if you can figure all of that out, _why _aren't you in Ravenclaw?"

Ignoring Liam's question, Cedric asked her, "So what, does this mean that I have to figure out how to breathe for an hour underwater?"

"Cedric—don't you remember?" Joseph asked, finally speaking up. "In Charms last year—the Bubble-Head Charm? Don't you think that would do the trick?"

"Sounds like you know already," Maddie said, then added, "Good luck tomorrow."

Cedric was up out of his chair in seconds, following after her. She stopped in surprise, and he asked, "Can I have a word with you?" She didn't say no, so he took this as a yes, and pulled her to a far corner of the common room, where they wouldn't be overheard. He couldn't ignore any longer the telltale signs that had been present just a year before—the way his heart seemed to speed up dramatically when she was around; the way that he couldn't sit still around her, either; and during that last exchange, he was aware of the fact that he seemed to mirror the way her body moved. If she crossed her arms over her chest, so did he. If she tilted her head to one side, so did he.

"How have you been?" he asked.

"Well."

"You know what I mean," he clarified, dropping his voice to a whisper. "How have you been holding out—with Harry?"

Her face fell. "Oh, well—I've been feeling loads better. It started the morning after. You were right."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, then they both fell into an awkward silence, both unsure of what to say to the other. Her hair—it was unlike how he had ever really seen before, pulled back into a complicated braid that started at the top of one side of her head and worked its way to the other. A few strands stuck out around her face, but they fell with an elegance that suggested that this was intentional. He could see so much more of her beautiful face this way, which was already hidden behind the glasses, and he liked it that way much better.

Brushing one strand out of her face, he said, "Listen, Mad. I've been meaning to tell you something for a while... I know that I don't really deserve this, or that you'll even allow it, but..."

The door to the common room opened (they were standing just a few feet away from it), and they both turned in the direction of the open door. Professor Sprout was coming in, her eyes lighting up a bit when they fell on them.

"Miss Lewis," she said as she approached, "Professor Dumbledore has requested to see you in his office."

"P-Professor Dumbledore?" she asked, looking a bit white.

"You're not in trouble, I can assure you that. Come along."

She turned to Cedric, offering him an apologetic look, and said, "Sorry—I'll talk to you later."

"Great," he said, though it wasn't great at all. He didn't think he'd have the courage to speak to her again about the matter later. It had taken almost two weeks for him to work up the courage _this _time. Would it take another two weeks to do it again? Or perhaps more than that?

Miserably, he walked back in the direction of his friends, all of whom were present at this point. "Finally, you're here," Edward said. "I've been waiting to get dinner for_ever!_"

"It's been three minutes!" John said back.

"Alright, let's go," he said, albeit reluctantly, and followed the rest of them out the door.

"Er—Cedric, is everything okay?" Joseph asked as they walked through the castle, making sure that the others didn't hear and that the two of them were walking together.

Cedric shook his head. "No. I'm an idiot."

"Is this about Maddie?"

"She's precisely what this is about."

"You fancy her again, don't you, Cedric?" He couldn't bring himself to answer. As far as he was concerned, if it took Maddie fifty years to accept his apology, he still wouldn't deserve it then. "Well, good. You've come to your senses about her, at least. This doesn't have anything to do with a month ago in the common room, does it?"

"No—her boyfriend had broke up with her then." He couldn't even bring himself to call Harry by name. He was simply 'her boyfriend' at that point.

Joseph seemed to know who Cedric was talking about; that, or he thought that piece of information was insignificant. "Alright, so why are you suddenly upset?"

"When I was talking to her in the common room just now—I was going to tell her. But Professor Sprout came in, said that Dumbledore wanted to see her in her office—and that was it. I didn't get to tell her anything. And she never would want me to be her boyfriend again, so..."

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet," Joseph interrupted. "You just have no idea how to read a girl's body language. Because I noticed some things that might be signs that she reciprocates."

Cedric's heart started beating much faster, yet again. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Well—does she usually look you in the eye when she's talking to you?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Does she?"

He had to think about it, and he arrived at yes, she did typically look him straight in the eye. "Yeah, I guess. But..."

"And when you guys make eye contact, does she usually look away immediately?"

"Well, no, but..."

"And does she usually start adjusting her clothes around you?"

"_No. _But what does all that have to do with anything?"

Joseph was grinning. "They're three obvious signs that a girl fancies you. Because tonight, she couldn't look you in the eye, any time that she did and you looked back she turned away, _and _when you first pulled her away, she started adjusting her jumper."

"Are you saying she fancies me?"

"That's definitely what it looked like."

Cedric couldn't say anything back. He was alarmed, to say the least—but also starving, and they had reached the Great Hall. He could smell their dinner so vividly that it just made his appetite worse. As he sat down, though, all he could think about was wondering how Joseph noticed these subtle little hints—and he didn't.

He looked down the table a bit, alarmed to find Dumbledore walk up to the staff table about halfway through the meal, but Maddie's place at dinner was uncharacteristically empty—at least, he _assumed _it was uncharacteristic. All of her friends were present as well, though none of them really seemed to notice her absence. Maybe this was normal for her as of late.

He could hardly concentrate on anything throughout dinner but Maddie, but as it came closer to the time that he usually went to sleep, his thoughts kept switching from her to the task that was awaiting him, back to her and then the task. Joseph helped him practice the Bubble-Head Charm a bit, then the five of them went to bed.

Cedric suffered a sleepless night, unable to calm himself or get his thoughts off of those two things: Maddie and the Second Task. The next morning, when it was time for breakfast, he really couldn't recall if he slept at all the night before, or if he had simply tossed and turned all night. Either way, when he roused himself, he already wished he could go back to bed.

When they went to breakfast, he was decidedly not hungry, and no amount of pestering from Liam and Edward changed his mind. He felt like he had to go back to the common room to think a bit before the task, but stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed Maddie's place at breakfast was still empty. He approached her friends, shocking them all when he asked, sans introduction, "Maddie didn't come to breakfast?"

They all looked up at him, and it was Amber (at least, he thought that was her name) who said, "Er—no, and she didn't come to bed last night either."

His heart sank into his stomach. "If you see her before the Second Task, tell her that I need to talk to her. It's important."

He walked back to the common room then, suddenly terrified for her well being. What was that supposed to mean, she didn't come to bed? She couldn't have been in Dumbledore's office that long, could she? Unless she had been expelled—but what could she have done wrong? And wouldn't her friends know about that? And didn't Professor Sprout say that she wasn't in trouble?

When he went back to the common room, all he could do in the hour before the Second Task was pace. There was no way he was going to perform well _now, _since he was so worried about Maddie's well being. He put on a brave face, though, and went out to where the champions were meant to assemble, finding to his surprise that Harry Potter was missing as well.

_I swear, if they've gone off somewhere to snog, I'm going to kill him,_ Cedric thought. But then, Maddie's suspicions about the Black Lake were confirmed when they were all given bathing suits and told to assemble on the dock before the lake once they were changed, being reminded sternly to keep their wands. As they went out there, Harry Potter ran up disastrously late, looking very tired.

_Well, there goes that theory,_ Cedric thought, and as he looked up into the stands, Maddie's friends sat in a group of four, rather than five. Where in the world was she? He figured that he would just have to, for the next hour or so, focus exclusively on the task and not worry about her. As soon as it was done, he could find her.

He had no idea how much the two would mingle.

Ludo Bagman's voice, echoed by the use of his wand, yelled out, "Well, all of our champions are ready for the Second Task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One...two..._three!_"

Cedric cast the charm at the same time that he jumped into the lake, feeling it take its effect just as he broke the surface of the water and began to swim down. Joseph was right; this was just the spell to use. He found that he could breathe perfectly in the lake, and he continued to swim downward, wondering what in the world it was that was taken from him. Was it his broomstick? That was really the only thing he could imagine of his that, when put on the bottom of the lake, would still be functional after an hour.

There were grindylow, and they were _everywhere. _He fumbled for the spell that would release them, doing the only thing he knew how to do: "_Expelliarmus!_" Then he found, to his horror, that underwater and with this charm cast, though he could hear his voice, it was so muffled that the spell hardly had any power. He simply succeeded in knocking one grindylow off his clothes and onto his foot. _Okay, think, Cedric. _He knew that Professor Moody had been trying to get them to do nonverbal magic...

He concentrated hard on the spell, harder than he had in class, and found, to his delight, that it worked, and the grindylow were cast off almost instantaneously. This was much harder than he had been expecting, because after the grindylow (no signs of the other champions) came merpeople. From the song, he had expected them to be stunningly beautiful (what did he think they'd look like? Veela?), but instead, they were hideous (and a bit terrifying). Their skin was an ugly shade of gray, and they all had long, dark green hair.

All of them were carrying spears, and it seemed like they all wanted to kill all the champions. But what was that behind them? It seemed like four rocks that were tied to the ground with something...and the rocks appeared to be _alive..._

When Cedric got closer, he realized that they weren't rocks at all, and that they were very much alive—at least, he hoped they were alive. They were _people_ that were being held hostage. And upon closer inspection, Harry was bargaining with the merpeople... At least, that's what it looked like, since Harry's words were completely muffled.

And when he got even closer, he realized who the hostages were.

First, there was Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend. Next to him was Hermione Granger, another one of Harry's friends—and presumably the hostage for Krum. On the opposite end was a little girl who looked strikingly similar to Fleur, and when he got close enough that Harry was no longer blocking the last one from view, he realized it was...

_Maddie._

Maddie was his hostage.

"Get lost!" he snapped at Harry. Didn't he know he was wasting precious time? And didn't he realize that Cedric had to save Maddie before it was too late? "Fleur and Krum're coming now!"

He had thought it silly that Joseph had told him to bring a knife with him to the task (he had said to use it to cut away any weeds on the bottom of the lake, but there didn't appear to be any), but now, it seemed only logical. He pulled the knife out of a pocket and used it to hack away at the bonds that kept Maddie at the bottom of the lake. When she was finally free, he grabbed onto her under the arm, kicked off the post that she had been tied to, and started making his way toward the surface.

But the mermaids didn't seem to like this, because three of them took off after them, and he had to fight tooth and nail to get away. They were not taking her back after what he had been through to rescue her, and he wouldn't let them have her without a fight. Merlin knew what they would do to her...no, he didn't want to think about that.

As he struggled against her captors, he wanted to scream at Krum, who swam away with Hermione Granger completely unnoticed by the mermaids. He wasn't angry a few minutes later, though, once he finally fought against the merpeople, sending them off of him, and he found that Krum had gotten tangled up in the grindylows. With them fussing over him, he was able to swim past completely unnoticed, and he could see the surface of the water just about twenty feet above him...

Though Maddie was extremely light, made even lighter by being underwater, he was growing tired carrying her. He was determined to make it... He couldn't just leave her down there...

Finally, they broke the surface of the water, and he could hear the school cheering as they emerged. As soon as they cleared the water, Maddie was suddenly awake and alert. He cast off the Bubble-Head Charm then, looking at her in concern. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said, breathing heavily.

"Mister Diggory, this way!" Madame Pomfrey was calling, and he swam over to her, leading Maddie by the wrist. As the two of them climbed out of the lake, Viktor Krum emerged with Hermione. Cedric looked past Madame Pomfrey to see Fleur, sitting there looking ghostly white and with her sister missing entirely.

"Take care of her first," Cedric spat, pointing at Maddie, as Madame Pomfrey tried to offer him a towel. She rolled her eyes, but tended to Maddie and then came back to Cedric.

"You're shivering," he told her, ripping his towel off her shoulders and putting it on hers. "Are you alright?" he asked again, taking her glasses off and tapping them with his wand, making all the water on them disappear.

"Yes, Cedric, I'm fine!" she said, and Harry emerged out of the lake then, with both Ron Weasley _and _Fleur's sister. As the three of them got out of the lake, the judges tallied up their scores. Cedric couldn't help but think that it was awfully cold without his towel around his shoulders, but he didn't care, so long as Maddie was warm—and safe.

He watched as Madame Pomfrey came and removed the towels from Maddie's shoulders (looking a bit confused as to why there were two) and replacing them with a blanket, then forcing a hot potion down her throat. She then moved to Cedric, pausing and asking, "Mr. Diggory, where is your towel at?"

"Never mind," he said, taking the blanket from her as she forced the potion down his throat, too. He suddenly felt much warmer than he had seconds before, anxiously awaiting his score.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision," Ludo Bagman said a few moments later, making them all jump in surprise. "Merchieftainess Marcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows... Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm"—she used the same spell that he had?—"was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points.

"Cedric Diggory"—Bagman suddenly had his full attention—"who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."

He could hear cheers from virtually every Hufflepuff in the school, and he looked at Maddie, who too was grinning broadly—and proudly. He paid little attention to the other champion's scores, except to hear that now, he and Harry were tied for first place. He just had to make sure that he won the next task, which Bagman told them all would be on the twenty-fourth of June.

Cedric could hear all of his friends calling his name in congratulations, but he ignored them, grabbing onto Maddie's wrist. She stared at him, and all he could see was the same beautiful eyes that he had fallen for just a year ago. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, Cedric, I'm fine," she said, sounding not exasperated, but almost...wishful.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said simply, but he was unable to ignore his urges... He saw in her eyes the same look that Joseph had pointed out to him a year ago, a look that was followed by her confession: _"Yes, Cedric, I really fancy you."_

Unable to contain himself, he cupped her chin in his hand and pressed his lips against hers, feeling the stares of nearly everyone in the school. At first, she seemed surprised, but then she reciprocated, and pushed herself into the kiss as well. How much he had missed this feeling...how much he had longed to do this for so long...

"_Breathe, _Cedric!" Edward shouted from behind him, and he finally pulled himself away from Maddie, who had tears running down her face. He wiped away her tears with his thumb, whispering, "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..."

"You have no idea how much I missed doing that."

Wait, what?

"You have no idea how much _I've _missed it," he said back. "I know I don't deserve you after all I've done, but Maddie, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Do you have to ask?"

* * *

><p>Cedric got to the common room after all of his friends, feeling suddenly as though the weight of the world had fallen off his shoulder. Everything suddenly felt so right. Not only was he tied for first in the tournament, but Maddie was his girlfriend again, and this time, he was determined to treat her right.<p>

When he entered the common room, he found that his friends were all sitting wordlessly on the sofa before the fire, but they all stood as he came in. "Hello," Cedric said, unsure of what else to say.

"_Hello?_" Liam asked. "What the bloody hell happened out there?"

"I, er—well, I tied for first in the tournament, and..."

"And kissed a third year?" Edward asked.

"Listen, I can explain..."

"Please do!" Liam said.

"Last school year, and for part of this one, Maddie and I—well, we've been friends forever, you know. She's my best friend. And sometimes friendship leads to...other things—well, last year...Maddie and I were...dating secretly."

There were shocked expressions on Liam and Edward's faces, and Joseph seemed almost proud of him, but John didn't look surprised in the least, confirmed when he said, "I know."

"You _know?_" Cedric asked, just as surprised as Liam and Edward apparently were.

"Not completely, but I definitely had an idea. No offense, Cedric, but you were terrible at hiding it. Personally, I'm happy for you. It seems like she really makes you happy. But I have to ask—why did you go to the ball with Cho? Did you guys break up?"

"I, er—well, yes. For reasons I'd rather not explain, but...you really knew?"

He nodded. "And like I said, I'm really happy for you guys. This summer, when we went to the Quidditch World Cup and I was trying to set you up with someone, I kind of knew in the back of my mind that someone was already there. I was just hoping that you would man up and tell me of your own accord. When you started dating Cho, I was confused, because I thought that you two were already together. And when you acted so miserable at the Yule Ball and with Cho, I thought it had to be because she broke up with you."

"That's—that's nearly spot on," Cedric said. "But she didn't break up with me. I—well, I'd rather not discuss it."

"Who knew besides me?" John asked.

"Just me, her, and Joseph."

"Joey, you knew?" Liam asked, apparently offended.

"I just figured it out on my own, like John did," Joseph said. "I was just a bit more vocal about my suspicions. And frankly, Cedric, I'm happy for you, too. I know how much you care about her. I think everyone does," he added with a grin.

"But wait, you said last school year?" Liam asked. "How long have you two been dating?"

"Well, if you ignore when I was dating Cho," Cedric said, "and act like we were still together during that time...it's been one year and three months." Edward and Liam started to laugh, and Cedric could feel color rising up in his cheeks. "Guys—don't laugh..."

"It's hilarious!" Edward said. "You? And _her?_ Together?"

"Knock it off," Cedric said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"But it's _hilarious!_" Edward repeated.

"This is why I didn't want to tell anyone..." Cedric said quietly. Well, not only that, but also the threat of what other people must have thought of Maddie burned vividly inside of his head.

John rolled his eyes as Edward and Liam continued to laugh. "Seriously, guys. How old are you? Five? I think they're perfect for each other."

"But she's a _third year!_" Liam said.

"Precisely why you shouldn't be laughing," John said. "Isn't your little crush on a third year, too?"

Liam, too, began to blush. "That's different, though! She's nearly fourteen!"

"Still, you have no reason to be talking," John finished. "Well, like I said, Ced, congratulations. I'm sure the two of you must be extremely happy together." He smiled at Cedric then, then turned back to Liam and Edward. "Are you guys ready for lunch?"

They started to leave the common room, but Maddie and her friends descended the stairs from her dormitory, apparently in the direction of the Great Hall. "Oh, great," Edward said, in what he clearly thought was a whisper, "it's his _girlfriend._"

Ignoring his friends, Cedric took off in her direction, and she smiled broadly when she saw him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, nodding toward her friends. "Do they know? About us, I mean?"

"Now they do," Maddie said, sounding on the one hand extremely happy; on the other, she sounded relieved, as though she had wanted this for the longest time.

"You were right, you know," he said, as her friends grew so impatient that they took off in the direction of the Great Hall without her. "We should have told people sooner. Then, everything that happened this year wouldn't have happened."

"Everything's worked out now, though," she said, and a smile crossed his face.

"Yes, it is," he whispered, and for the second time that day, he could say that he finally kissed his girlfriend openly, not caring who saw, because he was proud to admit that she was his once again.

* * *

><p><strong>YAY I had been waiting for this moment forever! What chapter is this, sixteen? *checks* Yes, it is! That means there are only eight left, and then, everything will have been wrapped up. Maybe. ;)<strong>

**I don't have much to say, at least not as much as I usually do. I will say that school starts again on Tuesday (unfortunately), so you can't expect an update until a week from today, Saturday the 11th. Also, I changed the genre of this story from romance and hurt/comfort to romance and drama, because I felt like that fits the story better. Of course, there were a few chapters where Cedric or Harry offer some kind of comfort to a very hurt Maddie, but just not enough, I feel, to warrant that tag. Erm uh I have nothing else to add, except last time I said that my name has three vowels, and this time I'd like to clarify that two of the vowels are the same, just repeated. So um yeah. Review please. :)**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	17. A Public Relationship

Cedric and Maddie, on the day following the second task, spent a good portion of the day together, completely unable to keep their hands—and their lips—to themselves. Anyone who came in the common room stopped to stare at them, but for once in his life, Cedric just didn't care who knew about how much he adored Maddie Lewis. He just didn't care, and each time that he kissed her, he suddenly felt so much worse for trying to keep it a secret just between the two of them. He was in such a good mood that he practically wanted the entire world to know how happy she made him.

About midday, Amber came and asked Cedric, "Do you mind if I steal your girlfriend? I saw Ginny Weasley at lunch and she really wants to talk to her." She seemed a bit colder than her usual self.

Cedric turned to Maddie, feeling a bit upset, and told her, "I guess I'm not the only one who wants to see you."

"Sounds like it." She was smiling a shy smile (why was she shy around him? Hadn't they been best friends for nine years?) and yet again she had her hair up in the complicated braid that she wore just two days prior. Though Cedric liked how it looked on her, he liked her hair down, too; all the better to run his fingers through it lovingly.

"Yes, Amber, you can steal her," he said before he placed a quick kiss on Maddie's lips.

"I'll be back later," she reassured.

"I'll see you then, sweetie."

Amber made a gagging noise as she led Maddie out of the common room. Cedric laughed once they were gone, leaning back against the sofa that they had been sitting on and feeling a kind of bliss he had never felt before. Mixed with this bliss, though, was the guilt that he didn't deserve such a beautiful girl. He would never deserve such a perfect, beautiful girl in his entire life. Would the guilt of what had happened with Cho haunt him for the rest of his life? It hardly seemed to affect Maddie (at least, as of late), so would he ever be free of guilt, too?

He was sitting quite comfortably when John came down from their dormitory. "_There _you are," he said as he spotted Cedric. "Liam and Edward have been wondering where you were all day."

"I'm not exactly in a big hurry to see them," Cedric said. "Probably just want to laugh some more about Maddie and I—they kept me up half the night doing that."

"That's precisely what they've been doing all day, too. Say, do you want to go with me to the library? I need to return a book I got a few weeks ago. And I wanted to talk to you."

"Sure." He followed John out of the common room, asking him, "Why do you want to talk to me?"

"You're not in any trouble with me, don't worry. Unlike some people, I actually want to hear about _your girlfriend _without laughing." He said the phrase 'your girlfriend' in a teasing jeer, and Cedric grinned, hoping he didn't turn bright red.

"What do you want to hear?"

"You said you've known her for a long time, right? It wasn't _love at first sight, _was it?"

"I was eight years old when I met her. Hardly love at first sight."

He cringed a bit at this sentence; the word 'love' felt odd and foreign in his mouth, falling rather than rolling off his tongue. It was as though he had no business to be saying it...but it was just a word in the English language. Why was it that he had called Maddie 'honey' earlier, but talking about love made him feel so odd?

"Alright, well, was it _love at first sight _with Cho? No offense to her or anything, but with the way you acted around her versus how you act around Maddie now, it seems like she was a bit of a downgrade."

He wanted to tell John that they were talking about people and not objects, and therefore it wasn't fair to be talking about 'downgrading' as though he could simply get a new girlfriend when he was done with another, but he said nothing on that matter. Instead, to John's question, he said, "It wasn't love at first sight with her, either. It wasn't love at all."

"Well, do you care to tell me what had happened with her?"

"I do care, actually, but I'll tell you anyway. I—well, I had cheated on Maddie, John."

John, though his features said otherwise, spoke in a tone that had no signs of surprise. "Yeah? You guys broke up because of that?"

"Yeah, we did. It was horrible."

"You must be something really special if she was willing to take you back."

This, Cedric hadn't thought of before. All _he _had focused on was that Maddie was just too good for him; he focused on the idea that no matter how long he lived, he would never deserve to have Maddie Lewis as a friend, let alone a girlfriend. He must have really meant something to her. He had to have, didn't he?

"I guess so," he said simply, and when they arrived at the library, John immediately went up to Madame Pince to return the book. Cedric, his mind in a million different places, meandered over to a shelf where there was a long row of thick tomes, some the same thickness as his skull...

He heard Cho's voice before he saw her. When he got close enough to see her, all he could see was her back, because she was turned away from him. She was speaking quickly to Marietta, the only friend of hers that he knew by name, because she never seemed able to talk fast enough for her own liking. About halfway through Cho's sentence, however, Marietta said something, Cho cast a look at Cedric over her shoulder, and the two stalked off without a word.

"Real mature," Cedric muttered, knowing perfectly well the look that Marietta had sent him. She was just as disgusted with him as most of the school seemed to be. Was it _their_ business if he was dating Maddie? It was something that was intimate and private between them; nobody else had to get involved.

"Cedric?" John called, immediately receiving a very annoyed, "_Ssssh!_" from Madame Pince.

Sighing, he came out from between the rows of bookshelves he was standing in, wondering how Maddie was holding up. "Over here, John," he said then, in a voice that was more of a whisper than John had used, approaching his friend as he did so. They left the library then, Cedric's head swimming a bit from this interaction (or lack thereof) with his exgirlfriend.

* * *

><p>The following morning when classes resumed, Cedric woke up and found, to his alarm, the other four beds in his dorm were empty, and three of their normal occupants were missing. "Did I oversleep?" were the first words out of his mouth to Joseph, the only one who was still there.<p>

"No," he said, tying the laces on his trainer. "Edward was up about the same time I was. He said that Liam was finally going to work up the nerve to talk to Amber Wright, so they left about half an hour ago. John went with them."

"Oh, alright," Cedric said, then forced himself out of bed and dressed himself, grabbing his things to go to breakfast. As they walked through the hallways, he asked Joseph, "Does this mean we're eating alone?"

"Sounds like it," his friend said back, though once they seated themselves at their usual spot about halfway down the Hufflepuff table, Cedric glanced up to find that Maddie was walking toward them.

"Do you mind?" she asked, gesturing to the spot next to Cedric, which would have been empty, if he hadn't placed his book bag there.

He moved it off the bench, moving over slightly to make room for her. "Don't you want to sit with your friends?" he asked in a pleasant tone, glancing down the table to where Liam was, Amber on his left. It didn't seem he had worked up the courage to tell her just yet. "It seems like this is something you'd want to see."

"No," she said, a little too quickly to be normal, a blush rising up in her cheeks, then she quickly explained, "I always sit with them. I don't get a chance to do _this _very often."

Cedric smiled at her, a feeling washing over him suddenly that he had the day of the Second Task: a longing to kiss her. He didn't find that the Great Hall was a fantastic place for that, though, so he simply placed his hand closer to hers and laid his fingertips on top of her skin, feeling the same electric spark that he had the first time he had ever held her hand.

He didn't stay in this position long, though, because the mail arrived at that moment, and he turned to find his fathers' owl, Leo, flying towards him, a note in his beak. He dropped the note in Cedric's lap, then flew away. He opened the note, smoothing it out to read:

_Ced,_

_Congratulations on your performance in the Second Task this weekend. The_ Daily Prophet _printed an article about it in its nighttime edition just after the task.__ I wish I could have been there, but I've read all about it in the _Prophet_. Interesting that you had to rescue a person from the Black Lake, isn't it? I'm also going to assume that Madeleine Lewis is supposed to be Maddie? That's the name they've printed in the_ Prophet_,_ _it doesn't seem that they're too interested in getting anyone's name right. Tell her I said hello. Greatly looking forward to how the Third Task goes._

_Your mother sends best wishes. We're both so immensely proud of you._

_Dad_

"My dad says hello," he said simply to Maddie as he tucked the note back into its envelope and as an owl delivered the _Daily Prophet _to Joseph. He glanced up at his friend with a confused expression on his face. "Why do you still have a subscription to that?"

"It's fun to see what garbage they allow Rita Skeeter to publish," he said offhandedly. "She never reports the news as is."

As he removed the tie off the paper, Cedric turned to shove his dad's note into his bag, but froze when he heard Maddie gasp and mutter, "Oh, no..."

He turned to find her looking very white, and he followed her eyes to see that on the front page of the _Daily Prophet _was a large picture (albeit upside down, since Joseph had turned his attention to something on the bottom of the page, which was folded)—of the two of them kissing, with a short article underneath.

"Let me see that," Cedric said, taking the paper from Joseph and laying it out for Maddie to see, too.

**_CEDRIC DIGGORY TIES FOR FIRST IN TOURNAMENT_**

**_CELEBRATES WITH DREAM GIRL_**

_RITA SKEETER_

_Feb. 26, 1995_

_Cedric Diggory has tied for first in the Triwizard Tournament with Harry Potter, following the Second Task of the Tournament on Saturday. Immediately after the task, Diggory and his new leading lady, Madeleine Lewis, were seen sharing an intimate moment on the docks of the Black Lake at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_As a part of the Second Task of the Tournament, Diggory, 17, had rescued Lewis, 13, from the bottom of the Black Lake from merpeople, then brought her back to our world and shared an intimate kiss with her before the three schools gathered to watch the Tournament._

_Lewis' identity has been verified by Cho Chang, 15, and Marietta Edgecombe, 16, of Hogwarts, who have stated that Diggory has been in a relationship with her for years—but has kept it 'hush, hush', due to her age._

_When asked about the truth behind Lewis' romance with Harry Potter, 14, the other champion representing Hogwarts in the Tournament, Chang was quick to retort that, "Harry and Madeleine had something back in December, but she broke his heart when she got together with Cedric. He couldn't eat for a week." Edgecombe also chimed in that Diggory is a bit of a womanizer, and it's shocking to most of his friends that he's been able to stay together with Lewis for so long._

_"That's what he liked about their relationship being a secret," Chang added. "That way, he could be with other girls. It seems like he's finally ready to be serious with her for the time being."_

_More details to come._

Cedric handed the paper back to Joseph, suddenly feeling very angry. He glanced over at Cho, who seemed to be unable to sit still—apparently, she had seen the article too, if the people sitting around her with their noses stuck in the paper were any indication. "I don't believe this," he muttered under his breath.

"Well...maybe Rita Skeeter does get the news right every once in a while," Joseph said awkwardly. "Apart from that 'Madeleine Lewis' bit, that is."

"Did you notice who her sources are?" Cedric asked.

"Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe? Yeah. They don't seem too pleased with themselves this morning."

Maddie was oddly silent, so Cedric turned to her and placed his palm over the back of her hand, gently pushing his fingers into the gaps between hers. "It's alright," he said quietly. "I'll talk to Cho about it later. There's nothing to worry about, sweetheart."

"Well, not here at school, anyway, everyone here knows about it already," she said. "But...do your parents know?"

Now he understood the problem. No matter how loving and caring his parents were (and, though his father sometimes acted like he only cared about himself or his son, they were definitely caring people), they probably would not take the news well that his seventeen-year-old son was in a relationship with the thirteen-year-old daughter of their best friends'. Her parents probably wouldn't take the news very well, either.

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes," he said simply, kissing her cheek. "What classes have you got today?"

Her Defense Against the Dark Arts class was in the exact opposite direction of their Charms class, so when they left the Great Hall, Cedric simply kissed Maddie good-bye and walked with Joseph to class. At lunch, though two of his friends had joined him (Liam did not, and it seemed that he was sitting with Amber instead, who looked very pleased with herself), Maddie still asked to sit with him.

When he said that she could, Edward immediately stood and left. Cedric glared after him, asking John, "What's his problem?"

John shrugged, though the hesitancy about it suggested that he knew precisely what was going on in Edward's mind. "So, you guys see the _Prophet_ this morning? You're front page news."

"Oh, we saw it," Cedric said miserably. "And it's almost all lies, so..."

"Don't worry, I didn't believe a word of it. I just wanted to know if you saw it."

Maddie still looked a bit ashen faced, so Cedric put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it, darling. I'm sure people will forget about it soon."

He was conscious of people looking at them and snickering, some pointing and laughing, most whispering amongst themselves. Cedric was starting to get annoyed. Hadn't they ever seen two people who truly cared about each other before? Or was it some foreign concept to them? _It doesn't matter. You care about her. That's all that matters. So what if other people judge it?_

Maddie had began to sit with them at meals all too frequently, and though Cedric liked the company, he was a bit suspicious. She wanted to spend so little time with the girls in her year and dorm that he wondered whether they had had a falling out—or whether it had something to do with him.

One morning, after they had had breakfast side by side, Joseph and Cedric took off in the direction of their Potions lesson, and Maddie had to go to Ancient Runes. Cedric had practically forced Joseph to bear witness to the longest, most passionate kiss that he and Maddie had shared in quite some time, and Joseph waited patiently. Once she was gone down the corridor and out of earshot, he finally asked Cedric, "Well, can't you take a hint?"

"Look, I'm sorry that you don't like me kissing my girlfriend in front of you..."

"This has nothing to do with kissing, Cedric."

"Alright, then what?"

"Haven't you noticed that Maddie's been acting very...peculiar lately?"

"Kissing is hardly peculiar..."

"_Forget about the kissing!_" Cedric stood up straighter, caught off guard by Joseph's outburst. "Are you just ignoring the fact that she suddenly wants to spend every waking second with you? _I get that she's your girlfriend,_" Joseph said when Cedric opened his mouth to interrupt. "But it's almost bordering on codependency, don't you think?"

"No, I don't," Cedric said, looking at Joseph as though he was speaking a foreign language. "She's an independent young woman. She isn't 'codependent' on me."

"I think she's depressed, Cedric."

Cedric stopped walking then. "You think what?"

Joseph nodded as he slowed to a standstill next to his best friend. "She just seems depressed. She's got all the symptoms."

"And what _are _the symptoms, may I ask?"

Joseph immediately went into a tirade of the symptoms, sounding exactly like a textbook rather than a teenage boy. "Loss of interest in pleasurable activities, insomnia, eating changes, anger and irritability, negative thoughts, suicidal ideas, and loss of confidence."

It suddenly felt as though Cedric had swallowed a goblet of ice water when Joseph reached the end of his list. "Did...did you say 'suicide'?"

Joseph nodded. "Yes, Cedric."

He said nothing to this. The thought of losing Maddie, especially to herself in such a way as suicide, downright terrified him. If what Joseph was saying was true, he would definitely have to talk to her and make sure she was okay. There was no way he was going to let her do anything like that.

"But she seems...fine..."

"Maybe on the surface. But she reads all the time, right? Have you seen her lately with a book in her hand or school bag? It's like she's lost interest in it. And she's gotten dark circles under her eyes and she's always yawning, like she hasn't been sleeping. And she rarely eats in front of us, even though she's always there at meal times, and when you asked if she wanted to sit with her friends the other day, she got very defensive about it, didn't she?"

"Alright, so she may be depressed," Cedric said, not wanting Joseph to explain the next three items on his mental checklist. "I'll watch out for it, okay? But how exactly do you get people so well? You were able to tell me that she fancied me twice, and now you're some expert on depression?"

"I just understand people, I suppose," Joseph said, shrugging. "You really will speak to her?"

"Well, if I think I have to, I will. Come on—we're going to be late."

As they continued their walk through the castle, Cedric couldn't keep his mind off of Maddie. He finally was open with the world about how much he cared for her, and now she was depressed? He prayed (and Merlin knew he never prayed) that she was alright; the idea of something happening to her or her being upset terrified him more than words could say. Now that he had her in his life, he never wanted to let go.

He glanced over at Joseph, wondering why it was his best friend was better able to read the girl that he adored so much better than he could.

* * *

><p>Maddie walked to Ancient Runes alone, pushing her glasses farther up her nose as they continued to slip down. She felt thoroughly exhausted; the night before, she had hardly slept at all. In fact, the rest of the week, it seemed, had been full of restless nights, and she wasn't entirely sure what was bothering her.<p>

Should she bring it up to Cedric that all of her friends (sans Ginny and Luna) had abandoned her? That even though it seemed like life was perfect, she had never felt more alone? That didn't seem a very good idea; she didn't want to worry _him _at all, because at that point in her life, he made her happier than anyone had in years. She had never felt so passionate about something or someone before. She hadn't even felt so strongly about Cedric the first time they had dated.

It was a nice, peaceful feeling, she had to admit, until she thought about the seemingly neverending list of possible consequences. First, there was that story in the _Daily Prophet,_ which was almost entirely fiction. And then there was the fact that her parents might have seen that article, too, if they still had their subscription to the newspaper.

But then, there was also moments like this that she hated the most.

Maddie heard the girls walking behind her before she saw them. When she turned around to give them a look, their conversation immediately ceased, and they acted like she didn't exist. She knew better, though, trying to ignore the hurtful words they were saying behind her.

"I heard that she did it with _Harry Potter, _too, and that's the reason that he asked her to the Ball..."

"But where would she do it _at?_"

"Don't know. There's got to be a secret room or something—maybe she sneaked him into the Hufflepuff common room and just locked her roommates out."

"So she could sleep with him? She just doesn't seem like that kind of girl."

"You never know. She's dating Cedric Diggory now, and he's _ancient _compared to her."

"I just never would have pegged _her _to be that way."

"What? Because she's book smart? Well, that's how they all are. You wouldn't expect somebody intelligent to be a slut, would you?"

At that point, Maddie ducked into the bathroom that she and Harry had once frequented, unable to hide the tears streaming down her face. She had never seen these two girls before in her life; who were they to tease and call her names like that? Who did they think they were?

She decided then and there that, no matter how much she enjoyed Ancient Runes, she was not going to that class that day. Instead, despite the fact that she knew she had total privacy here (save for the ghost that ensured her privacy in the first place), she locked herself into a stall, started rifling through her bag for her treasure, and sat in privacy throughout class, feeling hot tears running down her face.

As much as she cared about Cedric, the name calling was getting to be too much to bear. The rumors that she had been sleeping with both Harry _and _Cedric, when neither half of the statement was true, were flying wildly around school, and all she wanted was a return to normalcy.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay. Bad news. On Thursday, I broke my wrist. I got lucky in that I'm right handed and it was my left wrist that broke, but now I have to wear a brace for four weeks, which is roughly when this story is supposed to end. I will try to get updates done on time, but if I'm a little slow, please forgive me, I'm kind of crippled.<strong>

**Um. This fic just got really serious...? I'm also really excited, in my outline it's going to get very dramatic starting in chapter twenty-one. :) I hope you're all looking forward to that. Also, I'm still not giving up on the idea that you all want to be my friend and guess my name, ;) which actually used to be a popular given name but has fallen out of use in recent years.**

**Please review and stuff.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	18. The Truth About Maddie

When Maddie awoke one morning late in March, she found that all of her friends were chattering amongst themselves—and yet, it seemed that they had no plans whatsoever to include her.

Well, all the better, she supposed. If they didn't want to talk to _her_, she would make no attempt to talk to _them_. Whatever hostility they held towards her...well, she could play that game, too. The trouble with that game was that her only friends had become Cedric and Joseph. Being Cedric's friend again had brought her the kind of happiness that she hadn't felt in a long time, but she couldn't help but feel lonely without the support of the girls in her year and house. And God forbid her friends find out what had happened with him and Cho. They already thought so low of her; if they were to find out about Cho, then they would just think that Maddie was an idiot. What in the world would she want with a man like him? She was certain her friends wouldn't even regard him as a man.

And if it wasn't her life, she'd probably agree with them. But somehow, it was different with Cedric. She had known him longer than she had ever known anyone else—anyone who wasn't family. Knowing him that long made what he had done all the more unbelievable (because she knew how out of character this little slip was), but it also made it easier for her to forgive him. She could see that he was telling the truth when he told her how sorry he was, how he cared about her and _only _her.

But still, when Maddie's eyes opened that day, she looked over at Amber, who had the bed next to her, and found that the curtains around her friend's four poster were drawn to the side, so that Amber could see every girl in the room but not every girl in the room could see her—well, everyone but Maddie could see her, more correctly.

She waited for a moment for a taunt from one of them, perhaps a call of, "Good morning, sleeping beauty"—a common occurrence when she was the last to rise. But that morning, nobody seemed to take much notice of the fact that she was awake, not even when she began to dress herself for school. As she grabbed some clothes out of her trunk, Allison gave a condescending look, made some comment to Boo, and the latter laughed as the two left the room. Maddie froze where she sat, unable to move. She was nearly positive she had heard her name in this exchange.

She tried to push that thought out of her mind, but it was easier said than done, and when she finally had gotten dressed and had braided her hair out of her face (a habit that she had gotten into for Harry, but now seemed so silly to continue), she grabbed her belongings and walked out of the room before Sierra or Amber could try to say something to her, too.

_You're stronger than this, _she thought as a few tears worked their way down her cheeks. She wiped them off her face carefully, but was even more set on trying to appear strong when she reached the bottom of the stairs from her dorm to find Cedric waiting there for her.

"Good morning," he said, smiling a mile a minute.

"Morning," she said back, in a voice that was very obviously falsely cheery.

He didn't seem to notice (or maybe he was pretending not to notice), intertwining his fingers with hers as they left the common room. "Did you sleep alright?" he asked, his voice heavy with concern.

Rather than give an answer, Maddie heard herself ask, "Why?"

"You were rubbing your eyes when you got to the common room."

"Oh—yes, I did. Just...tired. Lots of homework last night."

She cursed herself for lying to him. She knew that it wasn't that big of a deal; after all, Cedric himself was pretty guilty of lying to her. But this was different somehow. Deep in her heart, she knew that he would have wanted to know if she was feeling the way that she did: hopelessly upset all the time.

As they walked to breakfast and had a typical conversation, she stared straight in front of her, unable to give much back to the conversation. Her thoughts were back in the Hufflepuff common room, in the halls, in the bathrooms, in the library, in classrooms... Everywhere she went, people stared at her like she was a foreign creature instead of a person. And though she cared about him greatly, being with Cedric just made the entire ordeal worse, because then the stares increased tenfold.

For a wild moment, she wished that she could go talk to Harry about all of this. Harry had been one of the best friends that she had ever had, and she still didn't really understand where his sudden animosity (if it could be called that) for her came from. He was definitely not himself, that was for sure.

But then, was _she_ even being herself as of late?

* * *

><p>In Transfiguration that morning, Cedric could feel Edward staring at him and could hear him whispering to Roger Davies, who was sitting next to him. Every time Cedric turned around to ask what their problem was, however, he found that they were both intently focused on the lesson.<p>

After about the fifth time that he snapped his head to glare at them, Joseph asked, "What exactly is the problem?"

"You have ears," Cedric snapped, then flushed red and clarified, "Do you not hear what he's saying?"

"Selective hearing. I'm trying to just focus on the lesson."

"Yeah, lucky you."

"Just try to ignore it."

"_Ignore it?_" he hissed, but he had to admit that Joseph was right. Ignoring it was probably the best solution. This proved much easier said than done, since Edward's whisper was hardly a whisper at all. Cedric clenched a fist under the table, the skin on his knuckles drawn so tight that it turned white.

When the bell finally dismissed them from class, Cedric took off, practically in a sprint, towards the direction of the Hufflepuff common room, not really in the mood for dinner. Unfortunately, Edward and Roger were following close behind, still gossiping amongst themselves quite loudly, so that Cedric could hear every word that was being said.

He was about halfway back to the common room when Edward finally said, "If you're still interested in Cho, Roger, then you might actually have a chance. I heard she's single again, but she might be pretty distraught that Cedric is _babysitting _a third year. Couldn't he pick somebody prettier while he's at it?"

Cedric turned around so fast that he nearly fell over, walking so fast towards Edward that he ought to have been in a race. "_Shut the hell up! Just shut up!_" he screamed at the top of his lungs, so loud that everyone stopped to stare and listen in on the conversation. "_Shut up!_" he snapped again when Edward opened his mouth to interrupt. Seeing that Edward was, for once, listening to what he had to say, he continued to shout at him, "I don't know what your problem with me is, but the least you can do is _say it to my Goddamn face_ instead of going around and _gossiping about me! _If I've done _anything _to make you this pissed off with me, then you can _man up and say it to me!_"

Edward didn't say anything in response to this, so Cedric finally snapped, "Will you just _say something _instead of stare at me?"

"Could you move out of my way, please."

"_What is your problem?_" Cedric yelled, only minutely aware of the door that was open to Flitwick's classroom. He didn't really care either way if a teacher showed up to reprimand him, give him detention, or take off house points. This was a more pressing matter, in _his_ mind. "_What is your problem with me?_"

"My problem is that you're standing in my way."

"_Answer me, God dammit!_"

"_Get out of my way, Cedric._"

"What did I ever do to you, Edward? What the hell is your problem?"

"You know what my problem is?" Edward said, finally yelling back. "Do you? My problem isn't the fact that you like to go around snogging thirteen-year-old girls, if that's what you think. Why don't you go have fun in your little tournament? It's not like you aren't already _adored _by everybody in school." Cedric froze, unable to respond to this at all. "And the second people stop _loving you,_ it absolutely kills you, doesn't it? _Doesn't it, Cedric?_"

"You don't know anything about me!" Cedric snapped, going red in the face. Before Edward could respond, he hurried away, walking in the exact opposite direction of where he was originally headed. If that was what Edward thought, then Cedric definitely didn't want to speak to him. He frankly couldn't care less about what the people at school thought about _him_; it was what they were saying about Maddie that was bothering him.

It had to have something to do with that article in the _Daily Prophet_. Nobody was too keen on staring before its publication, but now that all those lies and slander were in print, people just couldn't keep their eyes off of them—or their mouths shut.

Cedric hadn't had any problems with Edward in the past. What had started this now? Did Edward have a problem with his _ego?_ The same problem that Joseph had had a few months earlier? If that was the case...at least Joseph had a reason to be angry. Cedric had done absolutely _nothing _to Edward recently, or in the past, either, at least as well as he could recall.

Thinking about this brought him back nearly six years earlier, when he had gotten onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time. The date was September 1, 1989, and Cedric was eleven years old, getting ready to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the first time.

* * *

><p>When he got on the train, he was a bit overwhelmed by all of the students already there, all of whom looked much older than he was. Rather than focus on this, he meandered down the train to a nearly empty compartment. When he walked closer, he realized that it had a sole occupant: a boy with dark, ashy blond hair and big brown eyes, that was so young and had such a mixture of fear and excitement on his face that Cedric figured he <em>had <em>to be a first year, too.

He walked into the compartment, saying, "Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here? That way we don't have to be alone?"

"No, come in," the boy said. He waited until Cedric was seated across from him to say, "But I'm not really alone. There was another boy in here, but he went to go buy some sweets from the trolley."

"Oh," Cedric said, not sure what else to say but, "Are you a first year, too?"

The other boy nodded. "I'm Joseph," he said. "Joseph Dawson." He extended a hand out toward Cedric.

"Cedric Diggory," Cedric said, taking the hand and shaking it.

"Are your family wizards, too?" Joseph asked.

Cedric nodded. "Are yours?"

"I have a relative really far back that was a Muggle, but everyone else is a witch or wizard. Where do you think you'll be sorted?"

That, Cedric had to think about. His father, and most of his relatives, had all been put into Hufflepuff. His mother was the only member of her family who had gone to Hogwarts (her parents were from the continent and had moved to a small wizarding community in Devon a few years before she had been born), but she had been placed in Gryffindor. He supposed he wouldn't mind _too _much where he was placed, so long as he had some friends there.

Before he could answer, the door to the compartment opened again, and in stepped a boy about their age, his pockets laden with sweets. "She's selling _everything!_" he said happily to Joseph. "Chocolate frogs, Every Flavor Beans, everything! I made sure to stock up just in case..." He looked up at Cedric, slightly taken aback. "Who're you?"

"Cedric Diggory," he said as the newest arrival reached into a pocket and pulled out a liquorice wand, ripping it apart with his teeth.

His mouth full, he responded back, "Edward Young."

"Pleasure."

When they finally arrived at Hogwarts, they were led into the Great Hall, assembled into a large group of other first years, where they were informed that they'd be sorted using a hat that recited a song before the sorting started. A tall witch, with half moon spectacles and her hair in a tight bun, held a long scroll with all of their names upon it. As she cleared her throat, she called out the first name: "Anders, Eleanor!"

A slight, lanky girl with a gummy smile and flat nose, with hair as brown as the chocolate frog that Edward had decapitated and eyes as blue as the lake that they had traveled over, stepped forward. After about ten seconds, the hat called out, "_Hufflepuff!_"

This continued until the crowd had diminished some. Davies, Roger had just become a Ravenclaw when the witch called out, "Dawson, Joseph!" Cedric watched as his new friend stepped forward, sat down on the stool before them, and was declared a "_Hufflepuff!_" within seconds.

A boy named Delmont, Sean became a Slytherin, and a girl named Dibbert, Carmen was a Ravenclaw, before the witch finally called, "Diggory, Cedric!"

For a wild moment, Cedric grew concerned, a bit nervous for his fate. The hat was placed on his head and, without wasting a moment's time, yelled out, "_Hufflepuff!_" He joined Joseph and Eleanor, thankful that he at least knew one person in his new house. Three other boys joined them after a little while, too: there was a Thompson, John; another one named Wilson, Liam; and finally Young, Edward—the boy on the train.

A few years later, the five boys were as close as ever. The year prior, Cedric had tried out for the Quidditch team as a third year, and he had been selected as the Hufflepuff team's new Seeker. Now in his fourth year, he watched the sorting with a sort of fear. "The first years are so _tiny,_" Liam had said, looking at them all. Cedric had to agree as he searched the crowd.

The sorting hat gave its song, then all was quiet, until the hat called out the first name: Abbington, Finn. This student, after several moments of deliberation, was made a Gryffindor.

Cedric continued to search the crowd for the small blonde haired girl that was his best friend, but was unable to spot her until the crowd diminished. This was following the sorting of Kensworth, Zoey as a Slytherin. A few minutes later, McGonagall finally called out, "Lewis, Maddie!"

Maddie walked up to the stool and Cedric felt his entire body tense. He had been telling her that maybe they'd be sorted into the same house, and that way, they'd be able to spend lots of time together. Of course, he had said this when he was eleven years old and didn't have any friends his own age or gender, but he still would have liked to see her in the common room. She certainly was very polite, and friendly, and loyal, patient, honest... Everything that Hufflepuff was looking for. But having a boy as a best friend had also made her a little bit careless and courageous at the same time, meaning that she might be suited for Gryffindor. And then there was the fact that she was always searching for new knowledge, and her mother _had _been sorted into Ravenclaw...

When he finally got a good look at her, the hat fell down over her face—a common occurrence for the sorting ceremony. For about two or three minutes (the longest that he could ever recall), there was complete silence. He would have to ask about this later, wondering what the hold up was. But finally, the hat's rip, its mouth he supposed, opened and the voice called out...

"_Hufflepuff!_"

McGonagall took the hat off her head as she turned in the direction of her new house. As she searched the table, she finally found a girl that had just been sorted into this house, too: Doherty, Allison. As she sat down, she looked down the table and found Cedric, who was smiling at her with a look of pride on his face. She smiled back at him, though it was much weaker than his, as though she was afraid of something. He nodded once in her direction before turning back to the sorting ceremony.

It felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders or chest. He had finally been reunited with his best friend.

* * *

><p>Cedric had been so lost in his thoughts (what had caused him to think of the sorting ceremonies in the first place?) that he ran directly into somebody, nearly sending them falling to the floor. "I'm so sorry—" he started to say, then froze when he saw who he had run into.<p>

Cho tried to run away from him, but he had faster reflexes than she did. "Can I have a word with you?"

"I've got to get going..." she started to say.

"_This _is important."

She, too, stopped dead in her tracks, turning to face him. "If this has to do with what Rita Skeeter wrote in the _Prophet_..."

"That's precisely what this is about!" He folded his arms over his chest, trying to contain himself, something he hadn't been able to do when he was talking to Edward. "That wasn't your business to be talking to reporters on my behalf, but to tell them all lies? I'm absolutely _disgusted _with you, Cho."

"Skeeter had _promised _that it would remain confidential..."

"And that makes it okay? Do you really think that makes it okay? Do you even know the things that I've heard about Maddie since it was published? I've heard people calling her all sorts of names, some of them coming from _my friends,_ all because _you_ spread the idea that she's been sleeping around! Do you have any way of defending yourself?"

"My boyfriend had just broken up with me and..."

"And what? That excuses you trying to ruin my love life?"

"Well, now you know what you did to mine."

"_I _ruined your love life? _I _did? Because I broke up with you to right a wrong?"

"Because you were cheating on me!"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Cho, that it wasn't _you _I was cheating on?"

"Yeah, well, your little girlfriend is a real _idiot_ for dating you after that happened. She's really thick."

"_You say one more word about her and I promise you I will..._"

Cho was looking directly past him, and at that, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. In surprise, he shoved her off of him, snapping, "What in the world..."

She was still looking past him with a grin on her face, and Cedric turned to see what she was looking at—only to have his jaw drop open in surprise and horror. He had definitely been caught off guard by Cho's display of _affection_, but he could only imagine what Maddie thought of it. From the look on her face, she was devastated, and taking the entire thing out of context.

"Mad, wait—" he called after her, but she took off running, and he turned back to Cho, spitting in her face, "Do you see what you've done now? Stay out of my life!"

He turned around and dashed down the corridor, trying to find Maddie. He had to hand it to her; for being so short, she certainly could move fast. This he deduced after almost two minutes of walking, as he couldn't find her anywhere. When he finally found her, he heard the voices first.

"Well, if it isn't Diggory's _harlot,_" one girl was saying, and the other giggled before she provided her own input.

"Where are you off to? Time to find somebody else to snog?"

The girls were laughing when Cedric appeared around the corner. When they saw him there, they suddenly turned white, then their eyes both fell on the prefect badge pinned to the front of his robes. Wait, that was right. He was a _prefect. _He could easily get these girls, Cho, Roger, and Edward into some real trouble.

Maybe he couldn't take points from these girls or Cho and Roger (all four of them were in Ravenclaw), but he could certainly press some fear into them. He stood tall, his body open (he was not going to cross his arms over his chest, no matter how angry he was), as he said, "Excuse me. That kind of behavior isn't going to be tolerated at this school. I _will _be speaking to Professor Flitwick about this. Go on."

The girls ran quickly out of sight, and Cedric put his hands on Maddie's shoulders, turning her around so that he could have a good look at her. There were tears streaming down her face, and he really wasn't sure what they were from: these girls, or her encounter with him and Cho. Gingerly, he wiped the tears off her face, saying, "It wasn't what it looked like."

"I know," she whispered. "It was just...painful to have to experience again."

"I promise I'll never do it again, angel." He kissed her forehead then, holding her neck with both hands and tilting her head up with his fingers as he did so. "And I _will _be talking to Professor Flitwick about it, I promise."

She pulled away from him roughly. "Don't bother."

"Why?" She turned and started to walk away. He followed her, his heart starting to beat faster—but not from how much he was attracted to her like usual; this time, it was from concern over her well being. "Sweetheart, what's the matter? Has this happened before?"

"Every day...many times a day," was her response.

He stood rigid. "Boys or girls?"

"Both."

"I don't believe this." He shook his head, then sighed, whispering, "Listen, Mad"—he pulled her into his chest, holding her around her back and chest with one arm, placing his free hand in her hair—"I know that it must be difficult for you to have to experience this all on your own, but I'm always here for you, okay? If anyone is causing you any trouble, just come and tell me."

Rather than respond to what he said, she finally managed out, "I think I'm depressed, Cedric."

His heart suddenly stopped beating. He pulled away from her, looking down at her with such a deep set frown that it reached his eyes. Joseph had been right... "Why do you say that, honey?"

Maddie seemed to struggle for an answer, as though she was trying to sugarcoat her response. "I'm just...sad, all the time. And I can't fathom why." More hot tears worked their way down her cheeks.

Seeing this broke Cedric's heart into a million pieces, so rather than attempt to wipe the tears off her face, he kissed her, as tenderly and carefully as he had the first time. Kissing was so much more convenient when they were seated, because when they were standing, she had to stand on her toes, or he had to bend his knees, or he had to lean forward slightly, so that their foot height difference was lessened and he could actually reach her lips. But every time that they connected in this passionate, intimate way, it was as though every part of him came alive. That time, he simply leaned forward, pushing himself deeper into their kiss. Instinctively, he reached up and held her face with one hand, placing the other on her waist and pulling her closer to him. He knew that this act likely didn't help at all. But in his mind, if she was busy doing _something, _then she wouldn't have been unable to cry, wouldn't she?

No, as it turned out, she was perfectly capable of crying while kissing, he discovered when he stepped back. He finally reached up to her face with one hand, wiping stray tears off of her face with his thumb. "Hearing that makes _me _sad, love," he said at long last. "I want you to know that no matter what's going on with you, I'm always here to listen and it _does _get better. I promise."

He wrapped one arm around her neck and shoulders, turning so that they were walking side by side toward the Great Hall. She wrapped her arms around his middle, and he stuck his free hand into the pocket of his trousers. "What do you say we go and get dinner together? Just the two of us, nobody else to bother us?"

"I—I have to go, actually," she said, once they were outside of a girls' bathroom. She broke apart from him, calling, "I'll see you later."

"See you later, darling," he called after her, turning into the Great Hall sadly.

As soon as he had his back to her, she dashed into the bathroom, triple checking that no one was in there before locking herself in a stall. As soon as the door was shut, she buried her face into her hands and started to cry: hard, powerful tears that made her entire small body shake and convulse. She was certain that she was going to make herself sick if she kept it up, reaching into her bag for what was hidden there.

As much as Maddie cared about Cedric, he just didn't understand that she was broken inside, and had been for some time. She just didn't think there was any end in sight to this misery, so it was better to accept that, she figured, than try to fight it. She stayed in the bathroom all through dinner and beyond, finally slipping back into the common room around eight o'clock. As soon as Allison and Amber saw her, they stood and left the room, and she wished, for once in her life, that she was invisible again. That was how things used to be. Before the Triwizard Tournament, before the article in the _Prophet_, before the depression set in.

So long as she was dating Cedric Diggory, the most popular boy in school, that was impossible. She either had to start getting used to standing out, or she had to break up with Cedric. And since Cedric made her the happiest girl alive, Maddie knew that she would have to just put on a brave face.

Maddie walked more into the common room, and whispers and stares followed her. Feeling as though she was about ready to lose the dinner that she didn't eat, she dashed up the stairs in the direction of the girls' dormitories, stopping just outside her bedroom and sitting down on the stairs, feeling more hot tears run down her cheeks. She wished, more than anything, Cedric was there to dry them, to kiss them away, but he wasn't, and she was alone. And even though she had what most of the girls in the school only dreamed about, she felt absolutely worthless.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm very upset because this is like the third or fourth draft of this chapter because my computer is evil. :( Although I am very happy that I got more books (as if I needed more). I finally have copies of <em>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl <em>by Jesse Andrews and _Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children _by Ransom Riggs. I'm so excited to read these books; last night while I was at Target with my mom I saw a copy of _Hollow City _(sequel to MPHfPC) and I nearly asked if I could have it. :p**

**Sorry about this chapter really just being filler. My outline for this chapter was super unclear and I was thinking that there would be no way I would be able to write an entire chapter with just _that. _Also, I never mentioned it in the last update, but I wanted this chapter up on the fifteenth, but I've been exhausted lately and my wrist certainly doesn't help things. So I'm a few days late with this on the nineteenth. :p Hopefully (fingers crossed) the next update will be here on the twenty-fourth. We're seriously getting to the end of this! I'm kind of sad. :\ But hopefully, you guys will stick with it until the end...there may be a bit of a surprise there. ;) Please remember to review!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	19. Love is in the Air?

It was towards the end of April before Edward made any attempt to talk to Cedric again; when he did, it was simply, "Can I borrow your notes from McGonagall's class?"

Cedric counted himself lucky, though, that this was the only friend of his that he had suffered a falling out with. Had all four of his friends stopped speaking to him, he didn't know if he'd be able to make it to the end of the school year. He was aware of that none of Maddie's friends (at the very least, those in her year and house) were being overly _friendly_, which killed him inside, but at the very least, his friends were being more supportive than they ever had been.

And whenever Maddie was around, he couldn't stop_ smiling, _or just being happy in general. He loved the way her fingers felt when they were intertwined with his. He loved the way that it sounded when she was laughing. He loved the look in her eyes whenever they were together. He loved _everything _about her.

One day in early May, he saw her entering the common room on her own, her nose in a book. Though he had been sitting before the fire talking to John and Joseph, he immediately jumped up upon seeing her enter, cutting John off mid sentence. He'd have to apologize later, but this was a more pressing matter.

He walked up to her, grabbing her attention by saying, "Hey, beautiful."

She looked up, smiled when she saw who it was, and shut the book, stowing it under her arm. "Hello, Cedric."

"Listen. You know what's coming up this weekend?"

She frowned, looking as though she must have forgotten something. "Er—I'm sorry, no, I don't. What is it?"

He smiled even wider at her. "Hogsmeade trip. What do you say that you and me go to the village together—just the two of us?"

Suddenly, she looked just as shocked as she had when he told her about Cho, but it was a good kind of surprise this time. For a few seconds, she wasn't able to say anything, but she finally whispered, "Are you serious?"

"I made a promise to you a few years ago, didn't I?" He took one of her hands in his, intertwining his fingers with hers. "I'm dead serious. What do you say?"

"Well, I say—absolutely, yes."

He bent forward slightly at the shoulders, kissing her forehead. When they were together the first time, keeping their passion a secret from the rest of the world, he hadn't realized just how _intimate _kissing truly was. Now that they were together again, there was nothing that he wanted more than to share a kiss every time they were together. It didn't matter where—hand, forehead, temple, cheek, or lips (he hadn't realized how much sensation there could be produced in his body just from his lips)—he simply couldn't keep himself away from her.

"Where are you off to?" he said into her hairline as he pulled his lips off of her skin.

"Nowhere in particular."

"Do you want to come sit with John, Joseph, and I?" he asked, gently squeezing her hand and jerking his head in the direction of his abandoned friends. Alright, so it wasn't just _kissing _that he was interested in; any and all public displays of affection satisfied him, but he was unable to get enough.

"Sure," she said, her voice quivering a bit as though she was nervous. She stuck her book into her bag, following him as he led her across the common room. Cedric sat Maddie down on the sofa and then he sat down himself next to her, seeing an annoyed look from John as he did. Suddenly, realization set in.

"You were in the middle of something, weren't you?"

"I _was._ But obviously, your girlfriend is more important than us."

"I'm sorry, John, really. I'm trying to split my attention between my friends and my girlfriend." He started to rub the back of her hand with his thumb upon feeling her tense beside him. "But I really want you all to like her more..."

"I like her just fine," Joseph said.

"I know _you _do," Cedric said. "But..."

"It'd be a start if you would properly introduce us," John said. "Out of all the times we've had meals together, and you've never introduced us?" He had a trace of a smirk on his face.

"Oh...right." He turned to Maddie, gently untangled his fingers from her, and cleared his throat. "Maddie, this is John. John—my girlfriend, Maddie."

"Pleasure to, er, meet you," she said, extending a hand to him, which he shook as he nodded at her.

"Now, what were you trying to tell me before she came in, John?"

John looked slightly embarrassed as he said, "Can't remember. It wasn't that important. But you said you wanted your friends to like her more? There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend, isn't there? Why don't the four of us go do something together?"

Cedric could feel his heart sinking in his chest. He sincerely doubted that John would appreciate him cancelling their plans together for his girlfriend, yet again. He looked at the ground, embarrassed, then back up at his friends before he said, "I'm sorry, John, but..."

"But we didn't have plans to go to Hogsmeade," Maddie said, interrupting Cedric. "We'd love to go with you."

Cedric glanced at Maddie in shock, but she didn't seem the least bit hurt by this statement, like she usually would have. He knew he really owed her for this. Pushing that thought from his mind, he simply nodded at John, as though all of these thoughts were not running through his head. Without looking down, Cedric took Maddie's hand in his. Would he ever be able to keep his hands to himself when it came to her?

They made plans for the four of them to meet up at the Three Broomsticks that Saturday around one in the afternoon (Cedric offered for Joseph to bring Eleanor and for John to include Maxine, but they both had reasons for going solo), and then, John and Joseph left the common room. Cedric stood, forcing Maddie up with him—he refused to let go of her hand.

"You didn't have to do that, darling," he said, feeling guilt wash all over him again.

"Of course I didn't _have _to, but you haven't been able to spend much time with your friends lately. I don't want to keep you from them."

"But...our Hogsmeade plans... We've had them for years..."

"And we still have a year before you leave school."

"I owe you one," he said quietly, removing his hand from hers and holding her face in his hands.

"If we're keeping track, you owe me more than one. The Tournament, cancelling our plans the first time, our break up, the hint about the Black Lake and the dragons..."

Cedric frowned. Did he hear her right? Did she really say _dragons?_ "Harry told me about the dragons."

"And why do you think he told you? He's not _that _good of a person."

He laughed, kissing her forehead tenderly. "Okay, I get it. You're better than me. But I promise I'm going to make all of that up to you eventually."

"I have your word?"

"You have my word."

* * *

><p>On Saturday, Cedric was unable to sit still in the hours leading up to the Hogsmeade trip. As he dressed himself in his dorm room, Joseph watched him with a bemused look on his face. "Does getting dressed always make you so nervous?" he finally asked.<p>

"I just...I want you and John to like my girlfriend..."

"Well, Part A is already taken care of..."

"And I want to look nice for my girlfriend so that she likes you and John..."

"Understandable, but..."

"And I have to make sure that I look nice enough that she doesn't like you and John more than me..."

Joseph rolled his eyes. "You must be forgetting that John and I have girlfriends, too. Neither one of us is likely to steal your woman anytime soon."

Cedric cringed at the choice of words, but grabbed some shoes out from under his bed and stepped into them, saying, "The feeling's mutual. Besides, they're both on my Quidditch team. It'd be a little too weird to date a teammate."

"And dating your childhood best friend isn't?"

Cedric could feel a blush rising up in his cheeks. "That's different. It's...easier when you've known them for a long time."

That, it was. When he was dating Cho—besides having the feeling that he was with the wrong person entirely—there was so much that they just _didn't _know about one another. He didn't know what she liked in a partner, or how to be around her, or anything of the sort. With Maddie, it was different, having nine years of friendship between them. It was as though all of the potential awkwardness in their relationship just didn't exist, because they already knew so much about one another. It was like his father had told him when he was younger: "It's better if you marry your best friend than just anyone you find in Diagon Alley."

Though he hadn't given much thought to the idea of getting married to anyone at all, he definitely felt better around Maddie, his best friend, than he did around Cho. Sure, he and Cho didn't have very many 'good' moments, but even their best didn't compare to the worst with Maddie.

Joseph pushed these thoughts from his mind when he said, "Are you ready to go?"

Cedric nodded and stood. "As ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

><p>When Maddie walked into the Three Broomsticks, she found Cedric, Joseph, and John already sitting at a table. They seemed to be having a very good time, if the smiles on their faces and their loud laughs were of much indication. When Cedric saw her walking towards them, he immediately jumped up and pulled out her chair for her. "Hi, honey," he said as she sat down. "I've already ordered for you." He kissed her temple before seating himself.<p>

"How are you so perfect?" she asked, teasing.

"Don't use that word to describe me, ever."

"But there are lots of perfect things about you, you know. Your smile, sense of humor, eagerness to please..."

Cedric started to lean towards Maddie to kiss her, but John immediately snapped, "Oi, lovebirds—not in front of the kids."

Cedric suddenly sat up straighter. Rather than kiss her, he placed his hand on top of Maddie's so that his thumb was laying on top of her wrist and that his fingers wrapped around the back of her hand to her palm, then turned his attention back to his friends. "Sorry," he said, trying hard not to blush. "I just..."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," John said. "So, the final task is in a month and a half, isn't it? You nervous?"

"Not really... I mean, I get to find out what the task is in a week or two. Not as bad as the first one."

He fell into his typical activity of rubbing the back of Maddie's hand with his thumb, his way of displaying affection towards her without having to look her in the eye. It was necessary in this moment, since he didn't want to be rude and avoid eye contact with John.

"Well, has the tournament been everything you _dreamt _it would be?"

He shrugged, saying, "I don't know. It's been...an experience to say the least."

"Would you ever want to do it all again?"

"No." Cedric squeezed Maddie's hand at that moment. "Not unless I got to go to the ball with this beautiful girl."

A blush immediately sprang up in Maddie's cheeks and she fumbled for a moment for an explanation. "One ball is enough for me. Neither Harry nor I really knew how to dance..."

"One day, I'll teach you."

"Say, Cedric," John said, interrupting them, "Maxine's been complaining that I'm not very good, either. Mind teaching me, too, while we're at it?"

Cedric laughed, turning to look at his friends again. "I'm sorry, I only help out women."

"I'll say," Joseph said, finally speaking up from where he had been sitting silently.

For the rest of the time that the four of them spent in the Three Broomsticks, Cedric split his time between being hopelessly devoted to his girlfriend and providing input to his friends' attempts at conversations. By the time that the four of them were getting ready to leave, he was thrilled to find that John and Maddie were able to converse with each other with ease. He only hoped that the skill would transfer itself over to Liam and Edward...

That is, if he could ever get Edward to start speaking to _him _again, let alone his girlfriend.

As the four of them exited, Cedric excused himself from his friends, pausing outside the pub. Maddie slowed too, asking, "Is everything alright?"

He reached into the pocket of his jacket then, producing a necklace. "Did you lose this?"

She looked down at the silver chain in his hand. It was the silver locket that he had given her for her thirteenth birthday. Without realizing it, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Why in the world did he have that? She hadn't seen it in months... As far as she knew, it had been lost forever.

Suddenly, she remembered. When she had met with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Hogsmeade five months earlier, she had nearly ran into Cedric and Cho together. Though he looked downright miserable, seeing how happy Cho was had set her on edge, so she ripped the necklace off her neck and had thrown it on the ground when she saw them.

"Where did you..." she started, then looked up at Cedric to see that he looked hurt. "I'm so sorry."

"I found it today when John, Joseph, and I were going into the Three Broomsticks. Somebody must have found it. It was draped on the sign with the day's specials. Did you lose it?"

"Well...yes...but on purpose."

"On purpose?"

She could feel tears springing to her eyes. "I—I took it off back in December. I just saw you and Cho walking through the village together, and...and I was going to meet Harry, so I didn't—_feel right_ wearing it. Not when we weren't even speaking to each other at the time." Maddie stared down at the ground, a bit ashamed to look Cedric in the eye.

"Ah. Look, Mad—I don't blame you for it, so don't worry about it, darling. And if it's any consolation, I never gave Cho _anything_ like this." He held up the necklace for her. "Well, we're definitely on speaking terms with one another again. What do you say we put it back on?"

She pulled the hair off her neck, and Cedric turned her around so that he could fasten the necklace around her neck again, the same way he had done when he had first given it to her. Once it was back on, he pulled her hair down again (gently), then she turned around to face him. They stared deeply and passionately into each other's eyes for a few moments, then Cedric asked, "Just out of curiosity...did you put any pictures in it?"

Maddie reached up and carefully opened the heart pendant with two fingers, revealing two miniscule pictures in it: on the left was an image of her father; on the right, a picture of Cedric.

"I wanted to keep a picture of the two most important men in my life close to my heart," she explained quietly when she saw the look of surprise on Cedric's face. As for herself, as she explained, she looked a bit embarrassed.

"I love it," he said, getting ready to kiss her, when...

"Are you two _done _yet?" John snapped. "It's cold as all hell out here! Just snog her and get it over with!"

Cedric felt absolutely mortified by the outburst, but Maddie started to laugh, apparently forgetting her own embarrassment over the locket. He took one look at her and started to laugh, too, taking her fingers in his and walking back up to the school with her. When the four of them reached the common room, Maddie excused herself to go back to her dorm to change, and Cedric gave her a goodbye kiss, saying that he'd, "See you later, sweetheart."

He turned back to his friends, finding Joseph a bit bored—and John looking confused, shocked, and disgusted all in one.

"Is there a problem?" he asked them.

"Why didn't you say that you loved her?" John asked.

Slightly taken aback, Cedric stammered out, "Because I've never told her that before."

Now it was Joseph's turn to be surprised. "A year and a half together, and you've never told her that you loved her?"

"No...never."

"Well, _why?_" John asked.

"Because I'm not so sure I do."

"After what I've seen today, yes, you do." John stood up straighter, as though he and Cedric were going to get into a fight, but he was still shorter than Cedric by several inches. Instead of fighting him, however, he simply crossed his arms over his chest and said, "You're absolutely in love with this girl."

"I don't know..."

"What's stopping you from telling her that you love her?"

"Well, a lot of things, I guess." Seeing his friends' expectant looks, he struggled to find an answer, resorting to stammer out, "I mean...well, I guess that...it's because...the moment's never felt right..."

"'The moment's never felt right'?" John shook his head, staring at the ceiling in disbelief. "You've _got _to be kidding me. That is the worst excuse I've ever heard!"

"Well, it's true..."

"But the moment certainly felt right _for kissing _at the Three Broomsticks, the hallway, right here in the common room..." Joseph teased.

"Kissing is different."

"_I _think you love her," John said. "And I think she loves you, too."

With that, he and Joseph left the common room in the direction of the boys' dorms, but Cedric remained standing in the same spot as he was when they left, turning to look in the direction of the girls' dorms. Did he love Maddie? He had never really given much thought to it. To him, he had never said it because she was thirteen years old, which in his mind was a little too young for love.

_That's the most ridiculous argument ever,_ he realized. Had he not been fighting with everyone, it seemed, to prove that she was perfectly old enough for a relationship? And didn't most relationships result in love?

And sure, it was true that she was very mature for her age, and that he wanted to spend most of his time with her...and whenever they kissed, he felt more passionate than he had words to describe..._and _he never been happier in his life than he had been when everyone knew that they were dating.

There was so much to their relationship that made him happy. But did that constitute love?

He pushed that thought out of his mind, going back to his dorm to meet up with John and Joseph, his head swimming as he pondered the idea that he was possibly in love with Maddie Lewis.

* * *

><p>When Maddie went back into her own dorm room, she was a bit surprised to find Amber and Sierra there. She had thought that all of her friends—well, roommates; she wasn't so sure that they were friends anymore—had gone to Hogsmeade that day. Had Amber and Sierra already been there and back? Did they go at all?<p>

Regardless of their whereabouts that day, they stopped talking when Maddie entered, and she could feel herself growing angry that they were _still _treating her like this, but then...

"Hi," Amber said, looking a bit red in the face. "Were you in Hogsmeade?"

"Yes," she said simply, trying to avoid looking them in the eye. "Were you?"

"Well, Liam invited me to go, but I stayed behind to help Sierra with her Potions essay."

Maddie raised a brow. Amber? Help with Potions? The only class that she had ever considered ditching? "Really?"

"But then after a little while, we realized that I'm rotten at Potions, and we both wished that you were here to help out...and we realized that we were being stupid in how we were treating you lately."

"Explain, please?" She sat down on her bed, feeling a bit confused as she untied the laces on her combat boots, the ones that she had worn to Hogsmeade.

"We were just...upset that you never mentioned Cedric to us," Sierra said. "We knew that you were friends with him, but we didn't know that there was anything more."

"It's complicated, really. We never told anyone because of how old I was when we started dating. I wanted to tell you all, but I promised Cedric that I wouldn't do it." She stared down at the ground again, her hair falling into her face. She brushed it out of her eyes before she looked up again. "So you were just upset that I didn't tell you?"

"That, and we heard things about you," Amber said. Maddie started to open her mouth to interrupt, but Amber cut her off before she got a chance. "Don't give me that look, everyone's heard things about you. And we know we were stupid for believing them."

"And lastly," Sierra said, sitting cross legged on the four poster bed closest to the door, "Allison and I were a bit...well, we were a bit jealous of you."

"Jealous of me?" Maddie said, not bothering to hide the disbelief in her voice.

What in the world would they be jealous of? She wasn't pretty, not in her opinion, and especially not as pretty as the rest of them were. Even Allison, who was the plainest of her four roommates, was just too pretty for Maddie to be compared to. At the very least, in Maddie's opinion she was. Sure, Maddie had intelligence, but what was intelligence when others teased you for it? Were they jealous of...

"The relationship you have with Cedric," Amber said.

Maddie hid a sigh. If only the other two girls knew exactly what had happened in their relationship. She had never told them that Cedric had cheated on her; she had just said that he had broken up with her, and then started dating Cho when he needed a date for the Yule Ball. For the most part, it wasn't a lie.

Amber twirled a strand of her brown hair on her index finger, saying, "I guess we all sort of came to our senses a little bit after Liam asked me out. I mean, I was a bit too thick to realize at first it was just like you and Cedric, but I eventually realized what I was doing. I just wanted to say that...that I'm sorry, Maddie."

"I'm sorry, too," Sierra said.

The sheer sound of disappointment in their voices said it all. They were clearly very disappointed in themselves for what they had done to her. Maddie tried to fight a smile, but failed, feeling very happy that she finally had at least two of her friends back after months of neglect from them.

"Apology accepted," Maddie said, copying Sierra's posture and sitting cross legged on her bed as well in just her jeans, a T-shirt, and a pair of socks, having undressed herself a bit from Hogsmeade. Her clothes had been precariously thrown on her pillow, as she was too focused on what Amber and Sierra were saying to pay much attention to her clothes.

"So, since you're here...tell us all about Cedric," Amber said, making Maddie laugh and blush. Sierra moved over to Amber's bed, laying down on her stomach and resting her chin in her hands, both of them looking at Maddie expectantly.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

Immediately, Amber and Sierra started firing off questions, alternating between the two of them asking.

"Is he a good kisser?"

"How long have you two been together?"

"How'd you start dating?"

"Are you jealous of Cho?"

"Is _he_ jealous of Harry?"

"Did he get you that necklace?"

"Is his picture _in_ that necklace?"

"Do you love him?"

"What was that last part, Sierra?" Maddie asked, interrupting Amber, who was in the middle of asking a question about going on a date. She presumed that Amber was going to ask if she had been on a date with Cedric in Hogsmeade that day.

"I asked if you loved him," Sierra repeated.

"I...I don't know," she said. "I'm not sure."

"You aren't?" Amber asked, frowning. "I've already told Liam that I love him. You two have been dating a lot longer than we've been."

"Yeah, a year longer," she said, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them. "But we've just...never said it. I don't know if I do love him or not. It's really kind of complicated."

Her friends seemed in absolute disbelief over this answer, but she didn't know how else to answer them. She really didn't know whether or not she loved Cedric. In all honesty, she didn't really know how to tell if she did or not. Was there some guide available to tell a girl what that magical moment felt like, the moment in which she realized that she loved her boyfriend? Would anyone be able to tell her?

When she was a little girl, after she was certain that she had to marry Fred Weasley (she cringed at the thought; what in the _world _was she thinking?), she had asked her mother how she knew that she loved her father. Her mother had gotten a dreamy look in her eye, as though remembering the spectacular moment, and finally said, "You just _know._"

This answer obviously didn't suffice eight years later, what with Maddie being in a relationship where she didn't know if the two parties were in love. She certainly knew, though, that whenever she looked into Cedric's eyes and saw the way that he was looking back at her that she felt largely at peace with herself. She felt as though she was safe and protected whenever he had an arm around her, or his fingers threaded with hers, or his lips against hers. She felt so serene when he held her and she could hear his heart beating in his chest, at a rhythm that was just a tad bit faster than normal, as though her touch made his heart start racing. She couldn't stop smiling whenever he was smiling at her, and when they kissed, she felt an even more intimate attachment to him.

But was it love?

As her friends continued the conversation around her, and Allison and Boo returned to their dorm after a little bit, she felt her head swimming as she pondered the idea that she was possibly in love with Cedric Diggory.

* * *

><p><strong>This is late. Yet again. I know. Don't yell at me. I had some plans last minute yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to upload this until today. My mom had a dinner to go to for her boss, and she was supposed to bring a date with her, but my dad had to work, so I was taken as "her date". Then today, I got a bit sidetracked with writing my own book on top of this fanfiction, both of which are kind of hard with a broken wrist. Oh, speaking of writing! I'm a senior in high school, so we have to vote for class favorites for the yearbook. All of my English class voted for me for Most Creative due to my writing. :) It was a really big honor to me, considering I'm not the most popular girl around.<strong>

**Also, since this is late at being uploaded, I'm going to be late in saying this, but I would like to wish my ever faithful reader, sarahmichellegellarfan1, a very happy birthday! :) See, I pay attention to you guys. ;)**

**Alright, before I go, I have a little explaining to do. This week is going to be very chaotic, so I am going to try my absolute best to get the next update up on time. What I might do is to use tomorrow to write the next few chapters and upload them to fanfiction, then just upload them on my phone on the correct date whenever I get a moment. This is what I'm going to try to do, but you'll all have to bear with me if I just don't get things uploaded on time. I'm going to be out of town this next weekend (January the thirty-first to February the second), and I have rehearsal for my school play all this week, so things are a little hectic. Hopefully I'll get it all done! With that said, the next update is (hopefully) going to be uploaded on the twenty-ninth. I'm so excited for that chapter, by the way, though the title of it is going to be a major spoiler for the events of the chapter. Please remember to review!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	20. I Love You

The school year seemed to run by in a blur, and before anyone realized it, it was already mid-June. That meant that the final task of the Triwizard Tournament was just days away, and Cedric was growing more and more nervous as the date approached.

Of course, he knew that the final task was simply a maze. But what lay inside the maze was anyone's guess. He didn't dare assume that the last task was simply just a labyrinth to see how fast the champions could get to the other side; there must have been _something _inside of it that made it so dangerous, so terrifying.

As the rest of his friends started to study for their end of year exams, he focused instead on the maze, seeing as he was excused from these tests. He was determined to win this thing, if not for himself than for Maddie. He wanted to make sure that she could be proud of him. With him and Harry currently tied for first place, he had to make sure that he got to the end of the maze before the _other _Hogwarts champion did. And if he won, the first thing he was going to do was treat Maddie to a romantic evening out.

Sure, maybe it was just a fit of jealousy that had driven him to this determination. If he hadn't been competing against Harry, would he have been so determined to win, or would he just have acted as though this was as mindless a task as tying his shoes?

When it came to Maddie, she was spending nearly every second with her nose in a book, trying to cram in last minute information before her exams. Cedric sat with her in silence in the common room one day; she was sitting on the sofa, her legs pulled up close to her chest and leaning her back against Cedric's side. Cedric was grinning to himself as she started to mumble to herself about all of the information that she supposedly didn't know.

After a few minutes of this, he said, "Mad, if there's anything in that book that you don't know, then I'm actually impressed."

"Well, what if Professor Flitwick includes something on a charm that I haven't studied?"

"You're going to do some serious damage to yourself if you keep this up," he teased, a smile plastered on his face. "I don't think you've slept at all this week. Besides, third year isn't that important. You can repeat it a couple of times."

She sat up perfectly straight. "That isn't funny, Cedric!"

"You're going to do just fine, darling," he said with a laugh, pushing her open book gently into her lap. "And if you don't, then you know what to improve on next year."

"But..."

"You worry too much," he said in a whisper, staring into her eyes so deeply that it felt like he was staring into a mirror; he saw so much of himself reflected back at him when he looked at her, as though he saw just what it was about her that made him so happy. She stared back at him, and, feeling that the moment was right, he leaned in and kissed her for a few moments.

When they separated, he went back to staring at her, feeling a very, very good emotion wash over him. Was this _the _moment that everyone spoke about, the magical moment when somebody realized that they were in love? Was this what it felt like to love somebody?

"Maddie, I..."

She was looking at him so expectantly that he momentarily became tongue tied. For a moment, he thought about what he was going to say. He didn't want this moment to be wrong at all, not in the slightest...was this the right moment?

"I know you're going to do well in all your exams."

_You are an idiot, Cedric._

"You do?"

"Absolutely. You're an intelligent young woman. You'll do just fine."

"Cedric, I..."

"Yes?"

She looked as though she, too, had fallen victim to being so tongue tied, because it took her a minute to muster out, "I—I'll be seeing you around."

He nodded. "Right. See you around."

Maddie shoved the book back in her bag, making an excuse about somewhere she had to be. As she stood up, he followed suit, handing her the bag so that she could put it across her shoulders. With that, she left the common room.

As she ascended the stairs into the girls' dormitories, she mentally cursed herself for what she had just done. Maddie had been preparing to tell Cedric that she loved him, but became so overcome with anxiety that she simply excused herself from the room. Would she ever get over this anxiety and just come out with what she had to say? Or would the two of them never overcome the obstacle? It wasn't just anxiety about saying the words for the first time to him; it was the anxiety that the moment or the feeling was completely wrong.

Her mother had not been lying when she told her that relationships were complicated.

* * *

><p>The day before the final task, the school was abuzz with talk about the Triwizard Tournament, and as the task drew closer and closer, Cedric could feel his sense of confidence diminish greatly. The more he thought about it, the more nervous he grew, but the problem with that was that he couldn't just <em>not <em>think about the task.

He didn't want to say that he was nervous, but there was no other way to describe how he was feeling. Suppose he got halfway through the maze and he forgot every spell that he had ever learned? Or if he knew all the spells that he needed, but he forgot how to speak, so he couldn't say the incantation? Or—this was the worst thought yet—he was attacked by something, so even though he knew the spell and could say the incantation, he didn't get a chance to?

_You're getting ahead of yourself. Everything is going to be okay._

At dinner that night, he couldn't bring himself to eat much of anything. While he did pick at his food for a few solid minutes, it was probably only about a fifth of what was laid out before him. The thought crossed his mind that the sooner that this tournament was over, the better. Of course, he felt great after each task was _over,_ but doing it struck a kind of fear in him that he had never felt before.

"You nervous?" John asked once Cedric forcefully pushed his plate away from him. Joseph looked up in alarm as well.

"A bit," he said, sitting on his hands so as to hide how much they were sweating. For once, he was grateful that Maddie wasn't sitting and eating with them; he didn't want her to know that, for once, he just could not put on a brave face even for her sake.

"You did fine in the first two tasks," Joseph said.

"I know. I don't know what's different about this one."

"I think you're going to do fine," John said, and before anyone knew what was happening, he was giving advice the same way that Joseph usually did. "You know what else I think? I also think that maybe you should focus on something during the task that keeps you at ease...maybe that will help you get through it."

Cedric nodded, already having something in mind. He looked down at the end of the table that all of Hufflepuff house sat at, finding Maddie sandwiched between Sierra and Amber. Sitting opposite them were her other two friends, Allison and Boo. The five of them were all laughing and talking with broad smiles on their faces, and Maddie turned her head toward Amber; the way that she was seated made it easier for Cedric to see her face, and he watched her for a few moments, wondering how in the world he would have ever thought that somebody else was right for him. And added onto that, he wondered how in the world somebody like him could have ever managed to find himself with someone like _her._ She was so beautiful, made even more so beautiful by how focused and happy she seemed being in conversation with her friends.

She was what he was going to focus on in the final task the next day. After all, he had entered himself in the tournament in the first place for Maddie's sake. Cedric had to win, if only because of her. And if he was going to win, he didn't have any room to be nervous.

As he and his friends exited the Great Hall and prepared to go to sleep, he thought again about how beautiful Maddie had looked at dinner, and in Hogsmeade, and on the docks following the Second Task, and at the Yule Ball... Maddie was the most beautiful woman that he had ever met.

After changing into his pajamas, Cedric sat down on the edge of his bed, glancing over at the picture that he had taken out of his trunk and put up on his bedside table following his reconcile with Maddie. He watched as the picture version of Maddie looked around the platform in wonder, but then he watched as her eyes fell on the image of himself. She looked at his counterpart with such a shy smile on her face and with such a look of wonder in her eyes that he wondered whether she had cared this much for him even then. He wondered just how long it had been that she had felt these feelings for him, and why it had taken him so long to notice.

As he drifted into an uneasy sleep, he thought some more about the idea of him possibly loving her. He wasn't sure what it felt like, but his father had said that it was the most amazing feeling in the world. He felt so at ease and peaceful with Maddie, sure...but was it the most amazing feeling in the world?

He figured that after the task that was to befall him the next day, the second he held Maddie in his arms with the Triwizard Cup in one hand and ran the other through her hair, he would know for sure. He could imagine himself looking her in the eye right before he kissed her and saying the three words that he was sure any girl was dying to hear from her boyfriend...

_And if you don't realize you love her?_

He somehow didn't figure that that would happen.

* * *

><p>Harry, on the other hand, felt no nervousness about the final task, but he felt like an idiot for everything that had happened that school year.<p>

For once in his life, he had a beautiful girl who seemed to care about him wholeheartedly, and he had let her go without a fight, because her _lying, cheating, disloyal_ excuse of an ex-boyfriend had wanted to be her friend.

Where would they be at that moment if Harry hadn't let Maddie go? Would they still be together? Or were they doomed to failure from the start? Was it a losing battle, dating Maddie Lewis? Trying to sort out his feelings for her was definitely where he had failed. Why in the world did he think that her being friends with Cedric had anything to do with how _she _was going to behave? Just because Cedric didn't know what a good thing he had before him didn't mean that Maddie was the same way.

If there was any consolation, it was that she finally had gotten her greatest wish: she and Cedric were dating again, and this time, everyone knew how they felt about each other. And it seemed that this time, Cedric was determined to treat her the way that she ought to have been treated. And that was really all he had ever wanted from this relationship.

Harry was able to rest easy that night with the knowledge that, even if it wasn't with him, Maddie Lewis was happy.

* * *

><p>Cedric, however, was only able to sleep until about one thirty in the morning, and at two, he decided that the likelihood of him falling asleep anytime soon was next to none. At that, he stepped out of bed and down the stairs to the common room, hoping to clear his head. Maybe just walking around would be able to bring out the sleep deprivation lurking within him and send him running back to sleep...<p>

He found, to his surprise, that he was not alone in the common room. As he stepped into the room, he registered a figure sitting cross legged on the sofa before the fire, and as he stepped farther and farther into the room, he realized he recognized the figure as...

"Maddie?" he asked. She turned toward the sound of his voice, the shock on her face apparent, both from the fact that she wasn't alone and from who her visitor was. "What are you doing out of bed, sweetheart?"

"I could ask you the same question," she said before turning back to the fire.

Cedric could feel himself flush red. "Couldn't sleep."

"Me, either."

"Mind if I sit with you, then?"

She moved over to create room for him on the sofa and he sat down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned back into his chest, draping one of her arms around his waist. He kissed the top of her head, staring into the fire with her. Cedric carefully brushed a few strands of hair out of her face before he cleared his throat to speak again.

"You really should at least try to go back to sleep, Mad."

"You're one to talk. _You're_ the one who needs sleep. You've got the tournament tomorrow. Don't you have to be all rested for it?"

"I do."

He didn't know what else to say to this. Instead, he looked down at his blue flannel pajamas and then over at his girlfriend. He couldn't see her face, but he imagined that she was as lovely as ever, even when exhausted. She _had _to be exhausted; it was two o'clock in the morning, after all.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked when he saw how scantily clad she was. It wasn't like she was running around the common room in her underwear (God forbid), but the thin T-shirt and cotton pajama bottoms did little to protect her from the cold.

"Not with the fire going, I'm not."

"Well, you are a bit warm," he said, rubbing her arm with one of his hands. "But as long as we're sitting here, don't you think you should go back to your dorm and get a blanket or something?"

She shook her head. "No. There's...something we need to talk about."

He sat up straighter, turning to look at her profile with his heart pounding something crazy. She, too, turned to face him. Everything was okay between them, right? She wouldn't just break up with him the night before the most important day of his life?

"Is...is everything alright, Mad?"

Maddie started to nod, but then she froze, deep in thought. "With us? Yes. In general? Well..."

"Does this have anything to do with why you're not sleeping?" Cedric asked, slowly feeling his heartbeat return to normal with the knowledge that _they_, at least, were still okay.

"I've just been thinking...well, we've been through a lot this year."

He nodded. "More than I like."

"And what we've been through has made me, well...it's been making me think a bit. About our relationship."

His normal heartbeat disappeared as quickly as it came. With this simple statement, he could feel his heartbeat start to pick up speed again, and he hid a hand as he clenched it into a fist. She said that everything was alright between them, so what did this mean?

Before he had a chance to interrupt, she continued, "Cedric, I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm downright terrified about the task tomorrow."

He frowned, obviously not understanding what she was getting at. "Why are _you_ terrified?"

"I'm terrified _for _you. I'm scared that you'll be hurt, that something will happen to you..."

"Maddie, I'm going to be fine."

He said this more to calm her down than because he believed it, but he wanted to believe it more than anything else in the world. He wanted to believe that nothing was going to happen to him, but there was just a pressing feeling of nervousness. Truth be told, he knew exactly where Maddie was coming from with this statement.

"But in the off chance that you aren't, there's something I want you to know."

"What is it?"

She turned to look at him, and he could see, behind her glasses, that her beautiful green eyes were dilating. According to something he had read once, when a girl saw somebody that she was attracted to, her eyes would begin to dilate. It could have been the dark, since he knew that that was how eyes worked—they did what hers were doing to take in more light. But at the same time, she was looking at him like he put the stars in the sky, like he made the sun shine, like that was why the beautiful green was diminishing and the center, the black, was growing.

Finally, she said a phrase that rendered him immobile for a few seconds, even finding himself unable to breathe, the words captivating him as much as she did:

"I love you."

Cedric stared into Maddie's emerald eyes, seeing the flames from the fire dancing on the lenses of her glasses. A similar flame was burning inside of him as he looked at the girl before him, and he couldn't describe the feeling that was coming over him: it was like when he was in the Black Lake and the grindylow attacked, pulling him—or attempting to pull him—to the bottom of their depths and he had no choice but to let them. The only difference here was that it wasn't a sinking feeling he was experiencing; it was like he was floating, like he was flying. It was as though he was riding his broomstick and the grindylow could fly, pulling him through the air as he stared into Maddie's eyes, feeling as though he could look straight into her soul.

It was then that he realized that the magical feeling that everybody wanted to know about, the moment that basically defined his existence and attached himself to the girl before him, started to wash over him, and he finally found words to muster out...

"I love you, too."

As the words rolled out of his mouth, he realized that nothing he had ever said before that moment had ever felt so _right._ It felt so natural to be telling Maddie that he loved her, because it finally hit him that _he did._ He loved her...he loved everything about her.

He loved how tired she sounded when she first woke up in the morning, her voice matching her stunning, yet simultaneously sleep deprived, face; he loved how vulnerable she could seem at times, so that he had a chance to protect and shelter her; he loved how small she was so that whenever he hugged her, she was completely enveloped by him; he loved _everything _there was to love about her.

He loved _her._

And then, because it just felt so natural, he cupped her chin in his hand and looked her over. He wanted to memorize how she looked in that moment. He memorized the way her blonde curls framed her ashy face, the way that her eyes seemed so _wide_ despite the fact that they always were, the way her lips were slightly parted. He focused on those lips lastly, then dropped his hand down to the small of her back, pulling her gently closer to him. She was practically sitting in his lap when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Finally, with her in his lap and him in her embrace, he tilted his head to the right, shutting his eyes as he leaned in as close as possible to her, gently pushing his lips onto hers so that her top lip was captured between both of his. Instantly, he could feel so many sparks on his lips that he never wanted to let her go. It was as though he finally had his eyes opened to just how _perfect _she really was—despite the fact that his eyes were closed, so as to focus more on the feeling that she gave him. She was so warm and her skin was so soft that he pushed himself harder into their embrace, and he slowly opened his mouth slightly, breathing in just the smallest breath so that he literally took her breath away.

At that moment, they separated, and Maddie rested her head against the crook of Cedric's arm. He stared down at her, not aware of the smile on his face until she pointed it out, putting her hands on his face: "Your smile was what made me fall in love with you."

"Good," he whispered back, "because you make me smile."

Maddie's hands fell into her lap again, but Cedric held one of them within his grasp and squeezed it gently, then said to her, "Merlin, I wish I would have told you that earlier."

"That I make you smile?"

"That I love you."

She started to blush, a similar smile creeping onto her face. "You really love me." It came out as a statement, but it sounded as incredulous as a question.

He nodded back at her. "I really love you."

Now that they had said it to each other once, it was as though neither of them could just say those three words to each other enough. Cedric could just not see an end in sight to their love...and they had only just declared it to each other. He could feel so many memories come flooding back to him just thinking about _the _word: love.

Usually, these thoughts brought back the feelings that he felt at the moment that the memory was made. Now, he felt all different kinds of emotions. First, there was the memory of when Maddie had said, as a little girl, that she wanted to marry Fred Weasley, and now he felt an overwhelming sense of jealousy. Next came the memory of when their parents had joked that they would end up married one day, and though he didn't know if there was a marriage in their future, in that moment, it didn't matter: he loved her. And then, there was the last memory of when his first Hogwarts letter arrived, and Maddie had declared then what she had just said now...

"This isn't the first time you said you loved me, you know," he told her. She looked at him quizzically, and he kissed the end of her nose before he said, "You said it to me when you were eight years old."

She laughed, apparently remembering the memory. "And you said I didn't really love you."

"If only I knew then what I know now."

"And what do you know now?"

"That I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend."

"In that case...I'm pretty lucky, too."

Tears started to fill her eyes, but for once, he could see that they were happy tears, and he couldn't help but smile broader, kissing her quickly once more with the smile still on his face. "Honey, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," he said, tilting her head up to him by pushing up on her chin.

"For?"

"For everything that happened this year that shouldn't have happened. For thinking that we needed to stay a secret. For not defending you in front of my friends. For entering the Tournament. For thinking that there was somebody in this world I could love more than you. For cheating on you. And for not realizing any sooner that all I want to do is love you."

"I forgive you for all of that."

"You shouldn't. You never should have forgiven me for all that I did this year. But..." He stopped, placing a hand on her shoulder once he saw that she was opening her mouth to interrupt. "But I'm so grateful that you did. And sweetheart, I promise you that this time around, I'm going to prove that you're the only woman in this world for me. I promise."

"Because you love me?"

"Because I love you. And you love me."

With that, they started to kiss again and again, giving each other multiple little pecks on the lips. Their lips would meet for a second or two, then they would break apart and do it all over again. Cedric could feel himself just growing dizzy by Maddie's love and affection, and for the first time in his life, he could say that he was in love. He was in love with Maddie Stefani Lewis, and if he was to take the way that she kissed him with more intensity each time at face value, he would wager that she was just as in love with him.

When they first declared their love for each other, he had forgotten that it was two o'clock in the morning, and he had held her face in one hand as they continued to kiss, using only the light of the fire before them to illuminate the room and each other's faces. But before long, Maddie was leaning against him so that her head was rested on his chest. Her eyes were shut; her breathing was slow.

"Are you awake, honey?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes," she breathed out.

"We need to go to sleep."

"Yes, we do."

"I love you, Maddie."

"I love you, Cedric."

He kissed the top of her head, resting his own eyes, too. Before he realized what had happened, they were both laying down on their sides on the sofa, their bodies pressed into one another, though they weren't facing each other. Maddie was laying on the outside, facing the fire, and Cedric had his top arm wrapped tightly, protectively around her waist. He used the other arm as a sort of pillow, resting his ear on his forearm as he whispered sweet nothings into her ear.

After a little while, she was asleep. He was just going to let her rest for a few minutes, then send her back up to bed...but his eyes were growing heavy, too...

When he finally fell asleep (for good) that night, he had pulled Maddie's small body into his, breathing in her scent every time he took a slow breath. The world started to go black, and for the first time in almost a month, he felt absolutely no nervousness about the final task. He felt absolutely ready to tackle it head on, because now he had the most amazing girl in the school on his side. When he emerged from that maze victorious, he was going to do everything possible to prove his love to her.

* * *

><p><strong>I was on time for once! :D I feel like this is a chapter you wouldn't want me to be late with posting, too, considering what happened in it. The chapter I've been awaiting longest is next. However, even though I have plans to upload it on the second (yes, Super Bowl Sunday for all of us Americans...hey, the 49ers aren't going to the Super Bowl so I frankly don't care), you're going to have to bear with me if it's the third. Like I've said, I'm going out of town this weekend. I will probably not have Internet access (at least, not on a computer), so please, please, <em>please<em> bear with me. This whole 'leaving town' thing was entirely out of my control.**

**After this, there are only four chapters left. The final chapter is going to be very light, I feel, in comparison to the next three, but that's kind of how the actual Harry Potter series goes. Also, I know in this chapter they kind of jumped from 'I don't know if I love you' to 'I love you so much' in like seconds, but to be frank with you, that's kind of how real teen love works. Alright, I'll hopefully be updating this on the second, and if not, deal. Reviews are appreciated.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	21. The Confrontation

When the first weak rays of sun came in through the high windows, Cedric started to roll over so that he could block out this light—but froze when he realized that there was something that was preventing him from doing just that. Something was pressed up against him, and to his alarm, he had an arm wrapped around that something. And that something was in his bed.

He opened his eyes, confused on several accounts. Firstly, he didn't have a blanket on him, and secondly, he felt very oddly warm for not having a blanket. Third, he was not in his dormitory at all, but curled up on the sofa in the Hufflepuff common room. And lastly, fourth, the something that prevented him from rolling over was not a some_thing_, but a some_one._

Maddie was asleep next to him on the sofa, her glasses still on her face and her body curled up into a ball—as neatly as it could be, considering how cramped they were. Cedric was hopelessly confused for a few moments, until the memories of the night before came flooding back to him, in an odd, jumbled order. He recalled holding Maddie as she drifted off to sleep; he remembered seeing the fire being reflected off of her glasses, the same way that it was now; he could vividly picture every time that they kissed; he reminisced about coming down the stairs feeling exhausted yet unable to sleep and finding, to his surprise, that she couldn't sleep either; he thought about what she had said to him last night, and what he had repeated back to her:

_"I love you."_

They must have fallen asleep together, apparently drunk off of the other's love. As he thought more and more about the previous night, he suddenly remembered Maddie falling asleep in his arms, and him whispering in her ear, cajoling her to sleep. It was so easy to do just that when he was so in love with her. But a pressing issue arose in his mind when he thought about where they were.

Nobody had seen them, had they? Nobody had come down here, unable to sleep as well? Or perhaps somebody had gone to use the restroom in the dead of night and had seen them? Or maybe people were already going to breakfast?

Cedric tilted his head up to see what time it was by looking at the large clock above the fire, dispelling his final theory when he saw that it was only six o'clock in the morning. Nobody would be leaving for another hour, because breakfast didn't start until seven fifteen and continued until nine thirty, since it was Saturday. There was no reason for anyone to be up so early anyway because of the weekend. But they couldn't stay there forever; they would eventually have to get out of bed.

_Not out of bed_, he reminded himself._ Off the couch._

Gently, he removed his arm off of her side, propped himself up with the other arm, and began to gently shake her awake. "Maddie, sweetie," he whispered in her ear, but found that her features contracted at the sound of his voice, then fell relaxed again as she slumbered on. "Maddie," he said louder, shaking her with more vigor.

Her facial muscles contracted again, but this time, her eyes opened after the contraction and she turned to the sound, the surprise on her face evident when she saw who had woken her. She sat up straight, apparently already remembering the night before.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he said to her.

"What time is it?" she asked in the groggy voice that he loved so much. Her apparent sleepiness made a bashful smile cross his face as he answered her question.

"It's six."

"In the morning?"

Cedric nodded at her. "I didn't want to wake you, but we can't stay asleep out here forever."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Only about two minutes."

She ran her fingers through her blonde tresses, then covered a yawn with her hand. Finally, she turned to look at Cedric. "We said_ it_ last night, didn't we?"

Assuming that 'it' referred to 'I love you', he nodded. "Yes, we did."

"And the world didn't end?"

He laughed. "No, it didn't." He quieted himself down when he saw how tired she looked. "Hey. You should go upstairs and get a little bit more rest before breakfast, alright? Go back to sleep. In your bed," he finished off with a smile.

Cedric waited until Maddie stood before standing himself. She nodded and took off for the direction of her dormitory, but as he watched her walk away, he couldn't resist. "Hey—Maddie?"

She turned around and he beckoned for her to come back over to him. When she was standing before him, he held her in a tight embrace, saying, "I love you." With that, he kissed her, so gently and so quickly that it was like it almost never happened. But he could feel it; he could feel his lips tingling from where they had brushed hers.

"I love you, too," she said.

"Go to sleep, sweetheart. I'll see you later."

Once she had disappeared up the stairs, he turned and went back to his dormitory, feeling his heart pounding. Merlin, he would never get used to how it felt not only to love her, but how it felt saying the words aloud. It was anyone's guess why they had waited so long to say it to one another.

Cedric opened the door to his dorm room as quietly as possible, shutting it slowly so as not to wake his sleeping roommates. His bed was just as he left it, and he started to cross to it, suddenly feeling pretty tired himself, when…

"Where have _you _been?"

Cedric jumped at the noise, but looked up to see that it was just Joseph.

"Why do you have to do that to me?" he asked quietly, feeling his heartbeat slow down to normal.

"Do you know what time it is? Because _I _do. It's six o'clock in the morning, Cedric. Where have you been?"

"When did you turn into my father?" He was whispering and it was a bit of a rude remark, but he said it with a wide grin on his face, hoping to counteract the comment. "What are you doing awake right now?"

"I could ask you the same question. You seem to be forgetting that I wake up with the sun. And this morning when I woke up, your bed was empty. Did you get any sleep at all last night?"

"I did…just not in here. I…was feeling insomniac, so I went down to the common room…"

"You fell asleep in the_ common room?_ Why in the world would you—"

"Maddie was there," he said, finally climbing into bed. "I told her that I loved her."

Joseph immediately stopped speaking. When he finally opened his mouth, the statement caught Cedric off guard: "Well, it's about _time _that you did. I've been waiting to hear you say that for over a year now."

"And I've been waiting over a year to say it. She's really something, Joseph."

A little bit later, he managed to fall asleep for another hour and a half, then he woke up around seven forty-five to the sound of his friends' voices. He got up and got dressed, wondering whether Joseph had said anything to the rest of them. Nobody said anything, so he assumed that they were none the wiser, and so they finally went up to breakfast as a group. He did not exchange a word still with Edward.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, Cedric saw Maddie sitting with a group of her friends, seeming about twelve times happier than he had ever seen her, and he was about to walk up to her, when he heard a very confused question from Joseph:

"Cedric, aren't those your parents?"

He looked up and found, to his surprise, both of his parents seated across from one another at the center of the Hufflepuff table. They seemed to be waiting for something, maybe someone—was it him?

His father looked up and saw him, calling, "Cedric!"

Cedric turned to his friends. "I'll catch up with you later," he said, then walked to join his parents. His mother stood to hug him, then he sat in the empty seat next to her. Before he started to eat breakfast, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't you hear?" his father asked, in a loud, booming voice. "The parents of the champions have been invited to watch the Final Task!"

"And we've got quite the catching up to do," his mother said, "since you weren't home for Christmas."

His father immediately set into discussing all the things he had heard about the tournament, both from Cedric's letters and from the newspapers and word of mouth. Cedric spent much of breakfast correcting his father's errors, confirming certain pieces of information, and listening to his father boast about his accomplishments. He spent very little time actually eating.

His father's statement was confirmed, however, when he looked across the hall to the Slytherin table where Krum sat with his father; Fleur, at the Ravenclaw table, sat with two people who looked alarmingly beautiful—and very strikingly similar to her—and who seemed alarmed by the hubbub of Hogwarts; and Harry, whose own parents were deceased, sat with Molly and Bill Weasley.

His father forced him to attention when they asked how school was going and he teased, "So…are there any girls?"

_How does he not know?_ was Cedric's first thought, but he swallowed the pumpkin juice raised to his lips, dried his mouth with the back of his hand, and cleared his throat. "Well, uh…there _is_ one."

"Oh?" His father seemed very attentive. "What's her name?"

"You…you know her already."

"Who is she?" His father looked very confused, very fast.

_It's now or never._ Cedric looked back and forth from his mother and father, cleared his throat again (was this becoming some nervous tick?), and said, "Mum…Dad…I'm dating Maddie."

There was dead silence for a few seconds as the color drained from Amos' face and as surprise (but not anything else; not disgust or contempt like her husband) crossed Lucy's face. When one of them finally spoke, it was Amos, who said, "How—how old is she?"

Rather than answer directly, Cedric said, "She's a third year."

Amos dropped the fork that was halfway to his mouth. Cedric momentarily forgot how to breathe, but regained his composure when his father spat at him, "Is…is this some kind of _joke?_"

"No, Dad."

"But you _can't _be _serious…_"

"I'm dead serious."

Amos sputtered for a few moments, apparently unable to form a coherent thought. When he spoke, his face was very white; Cedric could feel his blood turn to ice as his father said, "Do you think this is funny, Cedric? Do you? Because I'm not laughing. This isn't the least bit funny."

"Dad, it's not a big deal…"

"_Not a big deal?_" Cedric cringed when he noticed how loud his father was getting; several people turned to look in their direction. "Cedric, do you not understand the severity of this situation? Maddie is _thirteen. _She is a _child. _And you are a _grown adult._ I don't think I could stress to you how—how—how _alarming_ this situation really is…"

"She's not a child, Dad!"

"You mean to tell me that you think thirteen is now adulthood? Do you?"

"Dad, you don't know her the way that _I_ do. She's so much more mature than anybody else her age. I don't even see her as that young."

"You know how absolutely disgusting that sounds? Do you?"

Lucy, who had been sitting silently, watching the argument like a Quidditch spectator, finally piped up (complete with a reddened face) to say, "Amos, stop it."

"Do you not understand this situation, Lucy? Are you trying to encourage pedophilia? Do you want him to get charged with rape?"

"What are you talking about?" Cedric spat. Rape? Pedophilia? What in the world…?

"You do know how an intimate relationship between the two of would look, don't you?"

"An intimate relationship?"

"Are you sleeping with her, Cedric?"

Cedric could finally feel all the anger bubbling up in him as he and his mother simultaneously shouted at his father. It was Cedric who said, "For Merlin's sake, it's not like that!" while his mother snapped, "_Amos!_ That was entirely out of line!"

"You know, I have half a mind to go inform her parents right now. Do you really think that they would approve of their daughter being in a relationship with a grown man when she's so young? Do you?" With Cedric searching for an answer, his father finally said, "You know what you have to do, don't you, Cedric?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Dad," he said, feeling him go so rigid and his voice so tense that it was as though he was arguing with Joseph when he had heard about how their relationship had gone sour. Now, with things in the opposite direction, he found himself arguing over it again with another important person in his life. He didn't think that he wanted to know what his father was talking about.

"You have to break up with her."

Finally losing his temper, Cedric spat, "I am not going to break up with Maddie!"

"And why not?"

"I love her!"

Then, at that exact moment, all the color drained from his father's face. It looked as though he had just stared death head on, in the flesh, and he didn't know how to react to it. His mother, on the other hand, while a bit surprised, seemed to be very happy for her son.

"_What_ did you just say?"

"You heard me! I love her! She is my girlfriend, and I love her!"

"You don't know the first thing about love if you think that what the two of you have is love!"

"Amos, settle down…" Lucy said, but Cedric immediately started yelling back at his father, silencing her.

"_You _don't understand how I feel about her! You don't even _know _how I feel!"

"I know that what you're feeling is abnormal! And if you don't go and break up with your little _girlfriend_ in the next five minutes, then I'm going to do it for you!"

Cedric froze, suddenly feeling rigid, fear sinking into the core of his being. "You would never."

"But I would. Don't you dare underestimate me, Cedric Amos Diggory. I am not happy right now. And I am going to do whatever it takes to stop this nonsense once and for all."

"Why are you treating me like a child?"

"Because you're acting like one. At least you and your girlfriend are on the same level."

"That's it!" Cedric snapped, rising to his full height and towering above his father, shouting at him so loud that several people turned to look at them. "You're my father and you can say what you want about me, but don't you dare bring Maddie into this! I have heard enough about her this school year to last a lifetime and I'm not going to have my own father insult her just because he can! And don't you dare tell me how to feel about her! You just don't understand what we have! She is so much more than a child, Dad, and you just don't get it! I love her and I'm not breaking up with her, and that is final!"

His father, too, stood up and leaned forward in Cedric's face. "You know what your outburst just told me? That you're not mature enough for a relationship, not even the one that you're in. I have never been more upset with you in your entire life, young man." He stepped away from the table, calling back to his wife and son, "I'll see you two later. I'm need to go for a walk to clear my mind."

As Amos exited the Great Hall, walking as fast as his legs would carry him, Cedric crumpled back to his seat, burying his head in his hands. He looked up to see his mother sitting before him. Apparently having forgotten that he was there, he said quietly, "It's good to see you, Mum."

"Cedric, sweetheart, I'm so sorry about your father…" she explained quickly, but her son interrupted her.

"Don't start. I know that I've just been a disappointment to him recently…"

"Cedric, that could not be further from the truth. We're both so extremely proud of you. It's just that…this just is a bit of a bump in the road…"

"Don't tell me that you're upset with me, too."

"No! Not at all. In fact, I'm very happy for you two. I've honestly always thought that the two of you would be very good for each other." The smallest of smiles flashed across his mother's face. "And to me, it seems that she's been an amazing influence on you."

Cedric glanced down at where Maddie and her friends sat once more. They seemed ready to go back to the common room, and Cedric could feel a strong, overwhelming emotion—a bit like what he had felt the night before while kissing her—wash over him in next to no time at all.

"You have absolutely no idea."

"Just give your father some time to adjust to the situation. I'm sure he'll come around."

Cedric nodded, hoping beyond hope that his mother knew what she was talking about. He wanted his father to accept his relationship, even though the likelihood of that happening was next to none. He watched as Maddie and friends exited together, knowing deep in his heart that his love for his girlfriend was deeper than anything else he had ever felt in his life, and if his father didn't accept that…

Was he really his father?

* * *

><p>As Amos walked throughout the halls, thinking back to his own time at Hogwarts, he just could not wrap his head around the thought thatCedric, <em>his son<em> _Cedric_, was dating a child. He cringed at the thought, knowing that he just couldn't even bring himself to call it 'dating'. What other word could he use though—if Cedric was going to throw around the word 'love', what else could it be?

And what in the world did he have to use _that _word for? That wasn't a word that his son should even be thinking about, let alone be using in regards to a young child. The idea that the two of them would think that they were in love absolutely disgusted him.

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me. We never really got around to it."

Amos turned to the sound of the voice, recognizing it from somewhere. As the voice got closer, he realized that it belonged to Maddie, who was walking down the hallway with a group of her friends. She seemed somehow much _older _than he remembered—she had a more womanish figure, and her long blonde hair fell with a sort of elegance that he had never seen on her before—but he couldn't shake the fact from his mind that this group of girls were all thirteen years old. They were discussing Merlin knew what, but he knew that they weren't going to be discussing it for long.

He walked up to her, saying coldly, "Hello, Maddie."

She stopped talking, looking up at him with a smile on her face. "Hello, Mr. Diggory. How are you?"

Amos simply couldn't believe he was conversing with a child, but he answered, "I could be better. Do you mind if I have a word with you?"

She turned to her friends again, saying, "Go on, I'll catch up with you all later." The four of them exited, and once they were out of earshot, she turned back to Amos, asking, "Is something the matter?"

"Well…look at you. You're all…grown up." He cringed at the word, thinking about what Cedric had told him.

"So I've been told," she said, with the smallest hint of a grin on her face.

It was gone as quickly as it had come. "Please tell me that this is just a phase."

"I—I beg your pardon?"

Amos narrowed his eyes, lowering his voice as he did so. "Don't give me any of that. Cedric sang like a bird. He told me everything. Do you have anything to say to defend yourself?"

Maddie's lower lip quivered, her mouth hanging open, as she searched for something to say. "What exactly did he tell you?"

"Don't act like you don't know. He told me all about the—the—the _relationship _the two of you have got going on at the moment. And it doesn't make me happy in the least."

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

"Are you? Are you really? Because it seems to me that everything is just _peachy _between you two. Well, let me tell you, even if you're not a little girl anymore, you've still got some growing up to do. Don't tell me that you're old enough to be running around with a _grown man_ the way that you're doing. You're a child. Cedric needs _a woman_ his age. He doesn't need to be babysitting you."

She looked deeply offended, but Amos ignored her, plowing on, "I don't know what exactly is going on between you two, but no matter how mature you act, you just are not old enough to be in a relationship with a grown man. With my son. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"I—I'm sorry, I'm not sure I do. Are you telling me to…"

"Well, for such an intelligent young girl, I'm surprised I have to spell it out for you. I don't want you _ever _coming near my son again, let alone whatever the two of you have got going on between you. Don't ever kiss him, or hold his hand, or even speak to him ever again. Do you understand me? Do I make myself clear?"

Maddie looked as though her heart had been shattered into a thousand pieces; it was as though she was on the verge of tears, but she nodded and spoke in a voice that seemed to be carrying the weight of the world's sadness. "Loud and clear. But Mr. Diggory, I don't think you're being fair. Let me just…"

"I'm not having this discussion with a child!"

He turned and walked away, and as soon as he was gone, Maddie burst into tears, walking down the hallway again towards her friends. How in the world could Cedric's own father try to keep them apart the way that he did? What right did he have to do such a thing?

Cedric walked down the halls at a brisk pace, looking around everywhere he went. He had said goodbye to his mother with a warm embrace, giving a cold goodbye to his father as he promised to see them before the final task. There were some people he had to go talk to, but one person in particular…

There.

In front of him was the long blonde hair and short stature that he had grown to recognize so fondly and dearly. He raced up to the retreating figure, calling, "Maddie! Maddie, sweetheart, I've been looking all over for you…"

He had turned her around to look at her, but immediately stopped talking when he saw how much she was crying. "Honey, what's wrong?"

She shook her head, but whimpered out, "Why don't you go ask your dad?"

_Dad._

What had he said to her? What had he done? This couldn't be good.

"What did he say? Merlin, I will _kill _that man."

Maddie couldn't even look him in the eye; she stared at her shoes as she said, "He said that I'm not right for you. That you needed a woman your age. That he wasn't going to waste time speaking to a child. He told me to never come near you again…"

Cedric could practically feel his heart breaking. It wasn't just breaking for himself (because he certainly felt horrible that his father would sink so low as to say that they could never even go near each other), but his heart really went out to Maddie. She was crying so much; this obviously shook her up…

Wait, had she said 'a woman'? And 'a child'? The same things that he had said to Cedric? There was just no reasoning with that man, was there?

"Ah. Maddie"—she looked up at him with the green eyes that he adored so much, and he tried to give her the most heartfelt look that he could muster, dropping his voice to just above a whisper—"if I could have anything in the world, I would still choose you. I don't want a woman my age if there's nobody exactly like you."

"Exactly like me?" was all that she could manage.

He shook his head. "Not even that. If I had to choose anyone, I'd choose you. In a hundred lifetimes, in any version of reality, I would find you and I'd choose you. Not a woman my age, or even remotely close to it. I just want _you._" He pressed his lips to her in the most affectionate way that he could muster, then pulled back, smiled at her warmly, and said, at a normal volume, "Besides, have you _seen_ girls my age? Absolutely mental. Feral, I tell you. I tried it once. I'm never going back."

"But your dad said…"

"Forget what my dad said. He doesn't understand our love. He just…doesn't get it. But you need to trust that I love you and nobody will ever, _ever _come between us. Not my friends, not another girl, and especially not my father. As long as I have you, I have everything I could ever need."

He held her in his arms for a moment, holding her as tightly as he could. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, and she was standing on tiptoe in order to accomplish this feat. Merlin, just another thing that he loved about her.

He turned his head to the side to kiss her cheek before they disentangled themselves from one another, then he said, "I'm going to speak to my father about this. Trust me. I love you, Mad."

"I love you, Cedric."

"And that's all I need."

* * *

><p><strong>WOO LAME ENDING WAS LAME AND A DAY LATE HOLLA. Hey I warned you that it probably would be. Because of this delay, the next chapter will be up shortly, on the sixth. I had meant for this chapter to be longer and include the very beginning of the first task, but that'll have to wait until the next update. I really liked this chapter, though, to be honest.<strong>

**I'm super tired because it's almost midnight and I have school tomorrow. Also, my wrist is healed! :) Okay um please review and stuff. Good night world!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	22. The Final Task and the Duel

As Cedric's friends finished up with their final exams, he went back to the Great Hall, knowing he had to face his parents again. He wasn't too worried about seeing his mother, but when he had last left his father, he was still fuming over the news that his son was dating Maddie Lewis. And if Cedric's conversation with her was to tell him anything, he had talked to the girl about it.

When Cedric arrived back in the side chamber of the Great Hall, his father and mother were talking very heatedly in a corner. Krum and Fleur were already there with their parents, and the other two champions were watching the Diggorys over their shoulders, trying but failing to be discreet. All conversation immediately ceased once they realized their son was in the room. He said nothing back to them as they tried to make a meager conversation with him.

Before long, Harry entered the room to meet up with Mrs. Weasley and Bill. As he passed, Amos said, "There you are, are you? Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Cedric's caught up on points, are you?"

"What?" Harry asked in shock.

Cedric felt absolutely mortified that this was happening, so he quickly told Harry, "Ignore him. He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament—you know, when she made you out to be the only Hogwarts champion."

"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?" Amos interrupted. "Still…you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?"

"Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble, Amos!" Molly Weasley said, turning to look at the Diggorys with a look of pure anger in her eye. "I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry! She's been printing all kinds of crazy stories—about Harry having a tattoo, Krum not speaking any English…why, she's written a crazy work of fantasy about your son and Braiden's daughter!"

This was obviously the wrong choice of words; Cedric immediately went very red. Amos opened his mouth to give an angry retort, but Lucy put a hand on his arm to silence him, and he immediately turned back to his family.

"Speaking of that article, Amos," Lucy said quietly, "didn't you say that it was probably a joke when it was published? Slander? And laughed when you saw it in the Prophet?"

"I never thought in a million _years _that it'd be true!"

Fleur had given up on listening in on the conversation between Lucy and Amos and had been eyeing Bill with a kind of longing. Cedric noticed this rather quickly, noticing that Fleur wore the same look that Maddie gave him from time to time, a look of love and comfort.

Cedric dug his hands into his pockets, finding a piece of parchment there. Curiously, he pulled it out of his pocket; how did it get there in the first place? He turned away slightly from his parents to read it, as they were too busy arguing to take much notice of him. It was only a sentence, and he immediately identified it as Maddie's tidy scrawl:

_Meet me in the common room at lunch. —Maddie_

He stuck it back in his pocket, stood up straighter, and said, "Why don't you two go eat lunch?"

His parents immediately stopped talking. "Aren't you going to join us?" his mother asked.

He shook his head. "Not hungry." He concentrated very hard on refraining from his telltale sign of lying: biting his lip. If only he had known to do this sooner, he might have saved himself a lot of trouble. He left the room quietly then, ignoring the look his father gave him as he exited. As soon as the door shut behind him, he exhaled heavily before going back to the Hufflepuff common room.

He took a moment to collect himself inside the doorway as he noticed the sole occupant of the room. Maddie was there alone, sitting on a chair before the fire where just a few hours earlier, they had declared their love to each other. Seeing her there made him all the more eager to do it again. His voice shaking the tiniest bit, he called out, "Mad…"

She turned to the sound of his voice, stood up off the chair, and crossed the room to him. He immediately put his hands on her waist, pulling her close to him as she put her arms around his neck. Before they had a chance to exchange another word, he was kissing her, wondering for a moment how in the world he had been so lucky.

When they had finally broke away, Cedric asked quietly, "What'd you call me in here for?"

"That."

He took her by the hand, a wide grin on his face, and sat down in the chair she had once occupied, pulling her onto his lap. She again draped her arms around his neck. For the next few minutes, all they did was kiss. At long last, Cedric opened his eyes, looking at Maddie, and realizing that she was just so beautiful. He could stare into those green eyes forever, could kiss those lips for hours, could run his fingers through those blonde tresses for a lifetime.

"I love you, Maddie," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Cedric," she whispered back.

"I'm not ever going to let anyone get in between us again, okay? Not another girl, or my friends, or my parents. Nobody."

"You said that earlier."

"And it still holds true."

He kissed her once again, brushing her hair out of her face after they broke apart, then repeated, "I love you so much, honey."

"I'm so happy I met you."

"Not as happy as I am."

Once more, he pressed his lips against hers and pulled away with the trace of a grin on his face. Maddie, too, had a shy smile gracing her beautiful features and he asked her, "How were your exams?"

"We were having an intimate moment, and you come out with 'how were exams'?" she teased.

"You don't think tests are intimate?" he said back, laughing.

"No!" The smile on her face was much broader than before.

Cedric laughed again, silencing the both of them as he stared deeply into Maddie's eyes. "Can you believe it took us over a year to say that we loved each other?"

"Can _you_ believe that we would have ever fallen in love in the first place?"

"Never." With that, he glanced down at his watch. "We probably should get going soon. I…I need to get back to my parents." He said this with a grimace, obviously not looking forward to this task.

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to."

She stood up, and he followed suit, draping an arm around her shoulders. She put one arm around his waist, the other on his chest. He stared down at her, looking her up and down, finally saying, "One more time?"

Maddie seemed to instantly understand what he was asking. "If you insist," she teased.

He grinned back at her, brushing hair out of her face once more, and allowing his fingers to trail down her jawline. They rested under her chin, tilting it upward so that he could do his favorite thing in the world. He rested his lips against hers, thinking about nothing but her. They separated once more, and for what felt like the millionth time, he said, "I love you."

"I love you."

They both exited the common room again, and Cedric found his parents once more. They requested a tour around the castle, and everywhere they went, Cedric couldn't help but think things such as, _"This is where Maddie and I first held hands… This is where I realized that I loved Maddie… This is where I was when I realized how beautiful Maddie was."_

The hours seemed to trickle by like seconds, and before he could realize what had happened, it was time for the feast before the final task of the tournament. He ate very little, thinking about three things: the final task, which he was growing more and more anxious about; the looks that his father kept giving him, a mixture of disdain and disappointment; and Maddie Lewis.

He would never be able to get his mind off of her, and he wished more than anything that she was sitting next to him, so that his parents could see just how much he loved her and how there was nothing wrong with what they were feeling.

It was Dumbledore who broke him out of his self induced trance when he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

* * *

><p>Mr. Bagman looked out at the stands, which were full of people. The champions and their parents (in Harry's case, Molly and Bill Weasley) were assembled on the grassy area before the Quidditch pitch, which had been turned into a gigantic maze made entirely of hedges. Cedric's hands had been shaking for quite some time, and he continually flexed and relaxed his fingers. This was it. This was the determining factor of the tournament.<p>

"_Sonorus_," Ludo Bagman said, then addressed the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each—Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!"

Cedric could hear cheers from the stadium, and he glanced up to see Maddie in dead center, sitting in a mixture of her friends and his. She was talking quietly to Ginny, a broad smile on her face. He couldn't help but notice how proud she looked. He then turned his attention back to Mr. Bagman.

"In second place, with eighty points—Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause followed. "And in third place—Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" More applause. "So…on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!"

Harry and Cedric settled themselves where they would be entering the maze, but not before Lucy and Amos could both hug him. For once that day, his father seemed to be completely loving and paternal like, nodding at his son and saying, "Good luck. We both love you so much." As they broke apart, Cedric went to his starting position. Once more, he glanced up at the crowd and he locked eyes with Maddie. He nodded at her once, as though saying a goodbye to her.

"Three—two—one—"

Bagman gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze. As soon as he had walked into the hedges, they formed a wall behind him. There was no going back now.

* * *

><p>Cedric ran as fast as his legs could carry him, seeming to hit every dead end in the shrubbery that he could. He continually turned around and ran back, only to find himself at yet another stopping point. He <em>had <em>to get to that cup first; he wasn't going to let anyone else win.

Right. Left. Left. Right. Left. Stop. Turn around.

His breathing grew more and more labored with each time that he had to turn around. Where in the world was the end of the maze? How was he supposed to get there? He had already faced a Boggart (it had taken the shape of Maddie on the ground, writhing in pain, which had caught him off guard at first); several dark creatures that he had never seen before; and a sphinx, which recited a riddle in the form of a poem.

He was running back to a place he had just been minutes before when a soul shattering scream echoed through the maze. It was unmistakably Fleur.

Cedric ran in the direction of her voice, thinking that something had to be dastardly wrong. As much as he wanted to win this thing, he didn't want another champion to be killed in the process. But as he found and approached her, he was stopped by another figure.

Krum.

Krum had a wild look in his eye, his wand pointed at Fleur. He was muttering curses under his breath, and Cedric ran up, shoving Krum as hard as he could. "Knock it off!" he shouted. "Leave her alone! What're you doing?"

Krum seemed to have lost all interest in the girl, turning his attention to Cedric with the same wild look. He held his wand up to Cedric's nose, just inches away from his face. Cedric swatted at his hand, but he was not relinquishing power.

"What are you doing? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

What Krum said next came out in a loud yell: "_Crucio!_"

Suddenly, it felt as though Cedric's entire body was being forced through a tube—similar to Apparating, but much more painful. It felt like he was being ripped to pieces. He fell over onto the ground, screaming and writhing in pain. Fleur used this moment to sprint away, apparently in no hurry to help him as he had been to help her.

He was becoming short of breath, in too much pain to remember to breathe regularly. He fumbled around for his wand, but all he could think about was that he wanted to die, if only to stop the pain. What in the world was Krum doing?

"_Stupefy!_"

Krum dropped to the ground, and immediately, all pain in Cedric's body vanished. He took a deep, grateful breath as he regained composure, putting his hands over his face as he struggled to breathe. He slowly pried them off his face to see his savior: Harry. Why in the world did the younger boy want to help him after all they'd been through that year?

"Are you all right?" Harry asked as he helped Cedric awkwardly off the ground.

"Yeah," Cedric panted. "Yeah…I don't believe it…I crept up behind him…he must've heard me, he turned around, and he had his wand on me…"

He was shaking all over. Though he could feel it no longer, memories of the pain were still ricocheting inside his mind.

"I can't believe this…I thought he was all right," Harry said, staring at Krum.

"So did I."

"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?"

"Yeah. That's why I came here, to find her. Krum got her too…should we leave him here?"

"No. I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him…otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a skrewt."

"He'd deserve it," Cedric muttered, wondering how in the world somebody could just use an unforgiveable curse on someone. Regardless, he held his wand straight up in the air and shot a shower of red sparks flying. He and Harry stood there, looking around, planning their next moves. "Well…I suppose we'd better go on…"

"What? Oh…yeah…right…"

They both went in the same direction for a few moments, then Cedric turned right, and Harry left.

* * *

><p>After what felt like years, Cedric saw an ominous glow in the distance. <em>The Triwizard Cup.<em>

He was going to win.

Cedric was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup, aware of Harry behind him. He had to get there first…he had to win…

Suddenly, Harry yelled out, "_Cedric!_"

Ignoring it, he kept running on. It would be like Harry to want to take the cup for himself, but Cedric knew he was faster…

Suddenly, he tripped over something in the dark. As he fell, the hedge came alive, snaking out and grabbing him, holding him prisoner on the ground. His wand had shot out of his hand, otherwise he would have done something to stop it… It was going to get him, there was no way around it.

"_Relashio!_" Harry yelled, and the bushes disappeared so that Cedric was able to grab his wand and jump to his feet again.

The two of them panted for a moment as Harry helped Cedric release some of the vines that had grabbed hold of him. Cedric, feeling the fear subside for a bit, finally found his voice to say, "You know, for a moment there, I thought you were going to let it get me."

"For a moment, so did I."

They both suddenly seemed to remember the cup, and they turned and ran toward it, Harry limping as he did. He obviously had a hurt leg from _something_. But they were both running wildly toward the cup. Cedric had to get there first…

But he stopped just feet from it. How could he just take it after what Harry had done? Harry had saved him, had been kind enough to let Krum be taken out of the maze instead of just left to be attacked even when Cedric had been selfish enough to let him go, had saved Cedric from Krum as well, had been willing to save all four hostages (Maddie included) in the second task, had told him about the dragons… Harry had saved him twice and had done far better in this tournament, despite being three years younger than the other champions, than anyone had expected. Cedric had just grazed by on sheer dumb luck.

Harry was, overall, the better wizard.

"Take it," Harry said. "Go on, take it. You're there."

Cedric didn't move, staring at the cup. He then looked at Harry, then back at the cup. Harry could see the longing expression on his face, which didn't even compare to what was going on in his mind. He would be letting down his parents, his friends, the school…his girlfriend. He had been determined to win this thing, if not for himself then for Maddie, but Harry was so much more deserving. Cedric finally looked at Harry one last time, then said, "You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

"That's not how it's supposed to work," Harry said. "The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on my leg."

Cedric took a few steps away from the cup, shaking his head. "No."

"Stop being noble. Just take it, then we can get out of here."

"Being noble is who I am," he said roughly, then calmed himself again to say, "You told me about the dragons. I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that, too," Harry snapped. "You helped me with the egg—we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place. Take it. It's yours."

It killed him to say it, it really did. He wanted to win for Maddie's sake, so that maybe, he could finally deserve her. But it wouldn't feel right to him when Harry obviously deserved it more.

"We're still square," Harry said.

"You should've got more points in the second task. You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."

"And let your girlfriend be hurt?" Harry asked. Cedric couldn't tell where the animosity in his voice came from—the fact that Cedric was dating Maddie again, or that he just wouldn't take the cup. Maybe it was both. "I was the only one thick enough to take that song seriously! Just take the cup!"

"No."

Harry looked at Cedric, seeing how serious he was. Not only was he losing the chance to prove himself to everyone, his girlfriend and his parents included, but he was letting go of the chance to bring glory to Hufflepuff, the house that probably deserved it the most.

"Go on," he said to the younger boy, his voice obviously hurt. What was he doing? Hufflepuff hadn't had that kind of glory in centuries. Gryffindor was better at Quidditch; Slytherin scored the most house points almost consistently; Ravenclaw did better at schoolwork…

And Harry was the better wizard. He had to keep reminding himself of that.

"Together," Harry said, breaking the silence and catching Cedric off guard.

"What?"

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

"You—you sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah…we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

"You're on." He couldn't resist the grin working its way onto his face. Why hadn't he thought of this, too? It was fair to both of them this way; they had, after all, gotten here at precisely the same time and had collaborated on that effort. It was fair. "Come here."

He helped Harry limp toward the cup. When they reached it, Cedric let go of his grip on Harry. "On three," Harry said. "One—two—three—"

They both grabbed a handle, and Cedric could feel a familiar jerk behind his navel. They were leaving the ground and the maze behind. He looked forward to arriving back before the school, his father finally proud of him for all the right reasons. He could feel the winnings being handed to him as he held Maddie in his arms again, kissing her and knowing that they were finally on even ground. He loved her, and it was finally going to be proven to her just how deserving of her he was.

They both had a death grip on the cup, and when they fell to the ground again, it was not in front of the school. The cup flew across the ground away from them as they landed awkwardly in crumpled heaps on the ground. Cedric, confusion all over his body, stood to his feet and helped Harry up. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Harry said breathlessly. "You?"

"Yeah." The two of them were standing, and Cedric looked around in confusion. "Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"Wands out, do you reckon?"

Harry nodded, pulling his wand out and grasping it in his hand as though his life depending on it, then walked away from Cedric and up to a tombstone—it was a graveyard. Cedric, too, held his wand in one hand. "I've been here before," Harry breathed, but Cedric ignored him, inspecting the cup.

"It's a Portkey," he breathed, but why in the world had it taken them _here?_ Was this supposed to be some kind of trick? Had it known that there were two victors, and this was to see who was more worthy of the title? "Harry—the cup is a Portkey…" he called over his shoulder.

"I've been here before," Harry said, much louder than before. Cedric's face matched his thoughts: confused. "In a dream." Harry looked at a tombstone, which read _TOM RIDDLE_. "Someone's coming. Cedric, we have to get back to the cup. Now!"

"What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, Harry cried out in pain, falling over onto the ground and grasping his forehead with one hand. Cedric raced up to him, dropping to his knees before him. "Harry! What is it?"

"Get back to the cup!" Harry was looking directly past him, at a man holding something that appeared to be an infant in his arms. What in the world…?

Cedric looked at the man and instantly, fear was struck into his very being. He stood to his full height, holding his wand out before him, breathing deeply and standing with more courage than he actually had in him. "_Who are you? What do you want?_" he shouted. He had to protect Harry, the same way that he had protected him. The infant—which really wasn't an infant—yelled out in a cold, menacing voice:

"_Kill the spare!_"

Harry screamed once in pain, yelling, "_No!_" before losing consciousness on the ground. The man holding the _thing_ (not an infant) had his wand out too, yelling an incantation. Cedric felt his body go tense as he lost the ability to hear anything; he was incapable of movement. He shot off several curses without thinking about it, managing to deflect some of the spells the man was firing off. But the man was relentless, and fired off one last curse.

Cedric flew through the air, and his final thoughts were back at the school, back with Maddie. He loved her, and she was the last thing he thought of as the world went black.

* * *

><p>When Harry awoke, Cedric lay spread-eagled on the ground. He appeared to be dead.<p>

The people before him were Voldemort and Wormtail.

Gone was the infant, who Harry assumed was the dark wizard who wanted him dead. He now had a body and was walking around, yelling at Wormtail—about what, Harry didn't know. Voldemort had summoned his Death Eaters and, once he finished screeching at his companion, turned his attention to the men before him. Without a care in the world, he walked up to one and shouted, "_Avada Kedavra!_"

A jet of green light shot from his wand, killing the man instantaneously. He dropped to the ground in a heap.

"You all abandoned me, but none more so than _him,_" he snapped, pointing at the dead man. "Thirteen years since we last met, and now, here we are again."

Voldemort rounded on Harry, holding his wand up in the air. "_Crucio._"

Harry dropped to the ground the same way that Cedric had earlier, screaming and writhing in agonizing pain. He struggled against it, but it felt as though his bones were on fire. He couldn't do anything but think about the pain. He wanted to pass out again, to die, _something _other than what was happening. And then it was gone.

He suddenly realized that, in his stupor, Voldemort had secured him to a statue, and now he dangled limply from it, unable to move.

The Death Eaters laughed menacingly as Voldemort said, "You see, I think, how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could ever have been stronger than me. But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him. I will give him his chance. He will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger, and after, we will take care of the _handsome one_. Now untie him, Wormtail, and give him back his wand."

His wand. He hadn't realized it was gone, but he saw Wormtail holding it in a silvery hand as he came forward and released him from what had held him. He fell painfully to the ground, standing on shaky legs. Wormtail took his place amongst the Death Eaters once again.

"You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked softly. "We bow to each other, Harry," but Harry remained upright. "Come, the niceties must be observed…Dumbledore would like you to show some manners. I said, _bow!_"

He raised his wand and forced Harry painfully into a bow, and Harry gasped in pain before finding the strength to stand again.

"Very good. And now you face me, like a man…straight-backed and proud, the way your father died… And now—we duel."

Voldemort sent a Cruciatus Curse at him before he could do anything, and he fell back to the ground, wishing again that he was dead, if only to end this pain and suffering. It stopped just as suddenly as it started, and Harry scrambled to his feet once more.

"A little break," Voldemort said. "A little pause…that hurt, didn't it, Harry? You don't want me to do that again, do you?"

Harry didn't answer. He was going to die like Cedric (because what else could have befallen the other boy?), Voldemort's pitiless eyes were telling him so. He was not going to play along; he had to beat Voldemort once more. He wasn't going to lose, not that time.

"I asked you whether you wanted me to do that again. Answer me! _Imperio!_"

Harry felt as though his mind had been wiped clean. It was bliss, not having any thoughts running through his mind…but suddenly, a small voice in the back of his mind was talking to him. _Just say no._

_I will not,_ another voice, not his own, said.

_Just answer no._

_I won't do it, I won't say it…_

_Just answer no…_

"I WON'T!" he shouted, throwing off the curse just as he had done in Moody's class.

"You won't?" Voldemort asked, penetrating the silence that had followed after Harry's outburst. "You won't say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die… Perhaps another little dose of pain?"

Voldemort was fast, but Harry was faster, sending off the curse before it hit him.

"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry. You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry? Come out, Harry…come out and play, then…it will be quick…it might even be painless…I would not know…I have never died…"

Harry shouted, "_Expelliarmus!_" just as Voldemort shouted, "_Avada Kedavra!_"

The green light from Voldemort's wand and the red one from Harry's met in the middle, and neither relinquished their death grip from their respective wands. Before they could realize what was happening, though, a gold light filled the air, punctuated by a beautiful song…

"Do nothing!" Voldemort snapped at the Death Eaters. "Do nothing unless I command you!"

The song, Harry realized, was a phoenix song. _Don't break the connection_, he thought, knowing that death awaited him if he did. But Voldemort's wand emitted echoing screams of pain, and both looked around in confusion. Suddenly, several figures emerged from the wand…

There was a great, grayish light, and the Death Eater that Voldemort had killed emerged. Then Cedric appeared, though he lay on the ground several feet behind Harry… Then Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins… And his parents.

"I was never faithful to him," the Death Eater said, "and he knew. I was never faithful, and the night I returned, he killed me."

"Hold on, Harry," Cedric said, and Harry nodded at him, though he was tempted to drop his wand in shock. _Don't do it,_ he thought, gripping it with much more intensity than he thought he could muster.

"He was a real wizard then?" the old man asked. "Killed me, that one did… You fight him, boy…"

"Don't let go, now!" Bertha said. "Don't let him get you, Harry—don't let go!"

And finally, the figure of his mother approached him. "Your father's coming," she said, quietly and sweetly. "Hold on for your father…it will be all right…hold on…"

And then his father _did _appear, looking just like Harry, but older somehow. "When the connection is broken," he said, "we will linger for only moments…but we will give you time…you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts…do you understand, Harry?"

Harry nodded, yelling out, "Yes," wondering if the figure could even understand him.

Cedric's silvery figure approached again, saying, "Harry…take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my father."

Harry nodded at him, too, turning to look Voldemort dead in the eye. Their wands were still emitting bright light; as long as they held this connection, Voldemort could not kill him as he did to all these others.

"Do it now," his father said. "Be ready to run…do it now."

"You're ready, Harry," his mother said. "Let go! _Let go!_"

Harry broke his wand from the connection, dashed back to Cedric's body and placing a hand on it. "_Accio!_" he yelled, pointing his wand in the direction of the cup. Before Voldemort could react, it shot toward him and he grabbed onto it, and they were flying back in the direction of the school.

* * *

><p>They landed again to hear a sea of cheers, Harry breathing deeply on top of Cedric's body, trying to fight back tears but failing. Voldemort had <em>killed him.<em> Couldn't they see that?

Dumbledore was running toward him, yelling, "Harry! _Harry!_"

He tried to help Harry to his feet, but he shrugged him off, yelling, "No!"

Fleur let out a deafening scream; she seemed to be the first to understand what was going on. The cheers died down some, but most people were still applauding and yelling.

"Harry!" Dumbledore repeated. He tried to drag him off Cedric's body once again, but Harry fell back to him, as though trying to protect him.

"_No!_ No!" Sobs captured him again, and the noise died down almost completely.

"Dumbledore, what's happened?" Ludo Bagman yelled.

"Harry—?"

"He's back!" Harry yelled. "Voldemort's back! Cedric—he asked me to bring his body back! I couldn't leave him! Not there!"

Dumbledore put a hand on Harry's shoulder, speaking in a quiet, soothing voice. "It's alright, Harry. It's alright. He's home. You both are." But despite Dumbledore's words, Harry wouldn't stop sobbing.

Up in the stands, Maddie struggled to see around the people before her. "What's going on?" she asked in a shaky voice. Why wasn't Cedric moving? "Ginny, what's happening?"

"Nothing," Ginny said quickly, trying to block Maddie's view, but she was very white in the face. "It's alright, nothing's happened."

"Ginny, what is it? Why isn't Cedric moving? What's happened?"

But despite Ginny's efforts to seat her, Maddie stood and looked down at Cedric. He was pale white and immobile. He wasn't getting up… What was happening? Why wasn't everyone celebrating?

"Keep everybody in their seats!" Bagman yelled, then started whispering to Professor Snape, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Gasps ran through the crowd—but why? "The body must be moved, Dumbledore! Too many people!"

_The body?_

Maddie got a good look at Cedric again as Amos Diggory broke through the crowd, snapping, "Let me through!" When the person before him wouldn't move, he shouted, louder, "_Let me through!_" Maddie finally realized what had happened when he yelled, his voice obviously fighting to be loud with his tears, "That's my son! That's my boy!"

He fell to his knees before Cedric, sobbing. In the nine and a half years that Maddie had known him, she had never seen Mr. Diggory cry. Mrs. Diggory, too, was sobbing behind her husband. Maddie knew what was happening, and sobs immediately filled her, too. Joseph laid a hand on her shoulder, tears running down his cheeks too, but she knew she was inconsolable.

Cedric was dead.

"_That's my boy!_" Amos shouted again as Lucy came to stand behind him. He fell forward onto Cedric's lifeless boy, sobbing hysterically as he did. Lucy, who seemed to be beyond tears, was comforted by Molly Weasley, who seemed to have just materialized by the crowd. The two women held each other, sobbing into one another's arms. But Molly's tears were nothing in comparison to Lucy's, who had apparently just lost her only son, her only child, her baby boy.

Moody forced Harry to his feet, and that was when Maddie lost all control. She fell back to her seat, burying her face in her hands. This couldn't be happening… She and Cedric had just admitted their love to each other. He couldn't be _dead._ He just couldn't be…

Amber placed a hand on her shoulder too, but Maddie couldn't stop crying, the image of Cedric's lifeless body burned into her memory. Amos' tears turned to screams, and Maddie felt as though the same was about to happen to her.

She wanted Cedric to hold her, tell her that everything was okay, brush hair out of her face and kiss her tears away the same way that he had done many times before… But she knew she would never get that privilege again. He was dead. He was gone. She would never hold him again.

Amos' screams of agony were all that anybody could hear. By now, everyone seemed to know what had happened. Four teachers—the heads of houses, it seemed—had appeared, calling their students down house by house. It started with McGonagall, who took the Gryffindors back to the castle… Then Snape collected the Slytherins…

"Hufflepuff, this way!" Professor Sprout called, and slowly, the whole of the house stood, all of them focused on Cedric's lifeless body. This was the house who seemed to feel the most grief.

"Maddie, come on," Joseph said, his voice broken and shaking. She wasn't the only one who lost Cedric, she realized; Joseph had been one of his best friends, too.

She shook her head, unable to do anything but sob.

Joseph sighed, taking her by the wrist and leading her back to the castle, whispering, "It's okay. It'll be okay. He loved you. It's okay."

She continued to sob harder, focusing solely on the past tense that he had used.

Cedric _had _loved her, because now, he was incapable of doing it anymore.

He was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh I'm late again sorry deal. I've had a hectic life the past few days. I know you probably all hate me now, but oops don't care. There are two more chapters left for you all to love me again. :D<strong>

**On a more serious note: I don't know if anyone here is religious, but I'd really like prayers for me right now if you are. I don't really announce this, but now feels like a good time to do so. I have type one diabetes. I've had it for years. And diabetics need to be careful to take care of their extremities (hands and feet). Lately, I've felt a sharp pain in my left foot whenever I stand, and I don't know why. I'm going to see my endocrinologist (diabetes doctor) on Wednesday (the day after the next update, which will be _for sure_ the eleventh—I don't have school this week, so I'll be sure to get it done on time), and I'll bring it up with her. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm just asking that, if any of you are religious, you keep me in your prayers. I'm leaving this in Heavenly Father's hands, since I am very devoutly religious, but that doesn't stop me from being scared. I'm downright frightened, really, part of the reason why this was late.**

**Please don't murder me, because I know some of you will be upset with the way that this chapter turned out. But don't give up on this story just yet; there are two chapters to go. Please review.**

**- Hatter of Madness**


	23. Nothing is the Same

When the stadium had finally cleared out and everyone had gone to their respective common rooms, Professor Sprout ushered all of the Hufflepuffs back into the basement, then shouted to them all, "All of you go to bed at once!"

As people began to file in the direction of their dormitories, she turned to leave, visible tears in her eyes. She had been very close to Cedric in life.

There was a group of nine people, however, who elected to stay in the common room despite this mandate. John, Liam, and Edward situated themselves in chairs; Joseph sat down on the sofa before the fire; Amber, Allison, Boo, and Sierra all took the carpet, though Amber was squeezing Liam's hand comfortingly; and Maddie took the available space next to Joseph on the sofa, still sobbing violently.

Tears were running down the boys' cheeks, and Amber's, too, but none of them could compare to Maddie's grief. Joseph, who had known Cedric the best other than her, rubbed her back, though he was unable to hide his tears. He was whispering into her ear, "He loved you. Cedric loved you. He wouldn't want to see you this way."

Liam, whom she had never spoken to in her life, said to her, "Cedric loved you. He came into our dorm once and told me, 'My girlfriend is so beautiful. She is the best thing that ever happened to me.'"

None of what they were saying could console her, though. She didn't care if Cedric had loved her, because he was now just _gone_. There was silence for a few moments, sans for the sound of Maddie's sobs. Joseph, too, was on the brink of being captivated by tears, but he managed to hold himself together, if only for her sake.

Edward wasn't looking at any of them, staring at the fire with tears running down his cheeks. He rested his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands, then finally spoke up. "At least you loved him."

"Edward…" John started in a stern voice, but Edward turned, standing to his full height.

"How do you think I feel, mate? How the hell do you think I feel? Cedric—one of my best friends—was just _killed!_ And for the past few months, I was brutal to him! I acted like I hated him! The last thing I said to him was hateful! That was his last memory of me! Do you know how that feels? At least he _knew_ that she loved him!"

"And he knew that you cared, too," Allison said, breaking the silence. They all turned to look at her (except Maddie, who just couldn't stop sobbing), but she was focused intently on Edward.

"When I haven't spoken to him in months? How the hell would he have known?"

"That was who Cedric was, I've found. He was forgiving. He knew that you didn't hate him."

"I should have said something," was all he managed out before tears claimed him again.

"Maybe so, but don't beat yourself up over it. He wasn't oblivious to the fact that you cared."

Edward turned away from her, squeezing himself onto the sofa on the other side of Maddie, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, tears falling down her cheeks faster than anyone could wipe them away. "I am so sorry I didn't treat you any better when I found out about you two," he said. "I can see it now… I see that he loved you."

She started to cry harder, but he said, firmly but not roughly, "Don't forget that. I know that it hurts, and that it must be damn near impossible to piece yourself back together after what happened tonight, but you have to remember that he loved you. He was absolutely crazy about you."

Maddie still couldn't stop crying. She knew that they were just trying to help, but it felt as though her heart had been splintered into a thousand little pieces. She felt as though she would never love again, because with Cedric gone, where was she supposed to put her love?

Edward shocked all of them when he literally opened his arms to her, saying, "Come here." Hesitantly, she leaned forward into his embrace, and he held her tightly. It reminded her, if only for a moment, of when Cedric would hold her, but this was different. When Cedric held her, it was as though he never wanted to let go. Edward seemed to be holding her as though he was acting in Cedric's place, like a replacement. "It's okay. Let it out."

After about fifteen minutes of Maddie being passed from person to person, all of whom tried to console her, she finally found herself with Joseph. The two of them had grown close over the school year, and he was looking at her with tears in his eyes.

"You're not the only one that's hurting," he said. "He was my best friend, too."

"I just can't believe it," she sputtered, tears freefalling down her face.

"I can't either." Unlike Maddie, whose body and voice shook with her tears, Joseph cried silently. Sure, tears were streaming down his face, but if Maddie hadn't been looking at him, she would have never known. "I just…Cedric, _dead…_ He was my best friend…"

"You were better friends than we were," she said, her voice shaking something terrible.

"No, that's not true. It's hard to be closer than you two were. _I_ never kissed him." This was obviously a joke, but nobody really had the energy to laugh, not with such a heavy situation before them. Not even Joseph could muster a smile. "Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat it—Cedric could be an idiot. He was thick at all the wrong times, and he acted without thinking, and he made downright stupid choices. But he cared about people. He was there for me when nobody else was. He almost always put others before him. He helped me find the girl of my dreams. And I also know that for him, that girl was you."

As Joseph held her, something that had never happened before, the two of them caved into their emotions and cried with much more intensity and grief. She knew she wasn't going to be over it right away, but how long would it take Maddie to be able to move past this? How long would she be grieving for?

The door to the common room opened suddenly, and Professor Sprout appeared. They seemed to be scrambling for an explanation as to why they hadn't obeyed her orders and gone to bed, but before anyone could speak, Professor Sprout said, "Miss Lewis, Madam Pomfrey has requested your presence in the hospital wing."

They all stared at their head of house in confusion. "Could it wait, Professor?" John asked. "Now is kind of a bad time…"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Thompson, but it can't. Miss Lewis?"

Maddie stood on shaky legs, trying her best to regain her composure. She followed Professor Sprout out of the common room and to the hospital wing. As she adjusted to the light of the room, the first thing that her eyes fell upon was Madam Pomfrey, who was busy speaking to reporters. "You cannot speak to them!" she snapped. "They need their rest!"

She let Maddie sneak by, however, then gently placed a hand on the girl's back, leading her to a row of beds in the hospital wing. One was occupied, and across from it sat Cedric's parents. They seemed very calm for people who had just lost their son…

But then Maddie looked in the bed, and she nearly burst into tears again at what she saw.

Cedric was looking at her, bandages covering one of his wrists and looking a bit pale, but he was blinking and breathing. "Hey, sweetheart," he said quietly, "I was hoping to see you."

She came over to him on shaky legs, sure that she was hallucinating. "Cedric? I—I thought you were…"

"I know, honey," he said quietly. "We all thought that. But it's okay. _I'm _okay."

She was still standing a few feet from him, afraid of getting too close to see that she was imagining this. "Come here," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Come here, I want to see you."

Hesitantly, she took a few more steps closer to him. He held one of her hands in his, squeezing it gently as he stared up at her. This couldn't be a dream, she reflected; he felt too real and too tangible for her to be dreaming, and chills went up her spine as their skin made contact. She wasn't looking him in the eye, though she was looking at him. Startling him, she reached out and rubbed his forehead with her thumb. His eyes rested on this appendage, feeling a bit shocked to see that when she pulled it away, it was red. "You have blood on your forehead," she explained.

His eyes fell on hers yet again, and he reached up and wiped tears off her cheeks. "And you have tears in your eyes."

She suddenly looked at the floor, embarrassed. "I—I just…"

"I know, honey," he said again, then pushed himself to the opposite edge of the bed, patting the empty space next to him. "Come here."

Maddie sat down next to him carefully, as though afraid of hurting him, pulling her legs onto the bed. He pulled her into his arms, stroking her hair with one hand. "It's okay…I'm here. Don't cry."

But she was already crying, and she said in a weak voice, "I thought you were dead."

"I know, honey, I know." He held her chin in his hand and did the very thing she had wanted him to do earlier: he kissed her, but not as passionately as he normally did. He was trying to kiss her tears away. He obviously wanted to calm her down, but it was a wasted effort; she was so shook up by what had happened that night that she couldn't stop crying. "I love you, sweetheart. I'm okay. I'm here. It's okay."

For a few minutes, the only sound that he made was quietly _ssh_ing her; he hissed it into her hair, her ear, her lips as he tried in vain to kiss her tears away. When she finally spoke, she could only manage out two words:

"What happened?"

He started to fill her in (filtering it a bit, so as to protect her) on just what had happened in the graveyard.

* * *

><p><em>The maze had been terrifying, and images of Krum attacking Fleur, Fleur screaming in terror, and that Boggart, the one of Maddie in pain, filled Cedric's mind. He still couldn't shake the Boggart away from his thoughts; he still recalled running into it and having fear struck directly into his body, feeling so fearful that the only way he knew how to fix it was to yell, "<em>Ridikkulus!_"_ _and turn it into her sleeping figure._

_But none of that compared to what he felt in the graveyard. It was eerie, and dark, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong._

_"Cedric, we have to get back to the cup! Now!"_

_Harry's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, but the younger boy sounded just as fearful as he did._

_"What are you talking about?"_

_Harry fell forward onto the ground, crying out in pain and clutching his forehead. It seemed to be the source of his pain, and Cedric didn't know what to do besides fall to his knees and say, "Harry! What is it?"_

_"Get back to the cup!" Harry was looking at something past Cedric; their eyes didn't meet. Cedric turned to see what Harry was looking at, seeing a man who oddly resembled a rodent, carrying what looked like an infant in his arms. Cedric stood to his full height, brandishing his wand as though it were a weapon._

_"_Who are you? What do you want?_"_

_"_Kill the spare!_"_

_"_Avada Kedavra!"

_"_No! Cedric!_"_

_Harry was lifeless and limp on the ground, apparently passed out from the pain he was experiencing. A jet of green light emerged from the wand of the mousy man, but, without thinking, Cedric yelled out, "_Stupefy!_" The two spells met in the middle and deflected off each other. Again, the man yelled the killing curse: "_Avada Kedavra!_"_

_And without thinking, Cedric shouted back, "_Expelliarmus!_"_

_The two jets of light met each other once more, and then vanished as the two spell casters broke the connection. Apparently getting bored, the mousy man shouted out a spell that Cedric had never heard before: "_Vita Mortuoum!_"_

_Cedric, too tired to fight back, tried to fire off another spell, but not before the blast of light could wash over him. He soared through the air, thinking about how he wished he could tell Maddie how much he loved her. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, run his fingers through her hair, do everything in the world for her… But she was at the school, and he was here._

_The world went black around him, but only for a few moments. He became aware of his surroundings when Harry was forced awake by none other than Lord Voldemort. Cedric looked down, realizing that he was floating in midair—but then, that was his body lying on the ground. What the devil was going on?_

_He was having an out of body experience, he realized._

_No, he wasn't having an out of body experience. He was...well, what_ was _he exactly?__ It_ _must have been what people meant when they said that people watched down on you from Heaven, because he was watching what was happening with Harry and Voldemort. He watched the duel, hoping beyond hope that Harry would be able to escape alive. When he shot out of the wand of Voldemort, he couldn't help but think that there were three of him there: his physical form, the ghost of the spell, and this spiritual form._

_Harry grabbed hold of the cup, being transported back to the school. As Harry grabbed hold of Cedric's body, the Cedric that was floating outside of his body was forced back, too. He watched as the rest of the school burst into applause at the sight before them, the sight that Harry and Cedric had emerged victorious… They hadn't seen the damage yet…_

_When Dumbledore tried to pull Harry off of Cedric's body, his father ran forward from the crowd, yelling at various people, "Let me through!"_

_"I won, Dad," the spiritual Cedric said. "Aren't you proud of me?"_

_But his father seemed to just notice that Cedric was dead, and it was a bit hard to worry about what had happened in the tournament when you had just lost a son. He saw his mother burst into tears, too, and he wanted to yell at them that he was there, that everything would be okay. But even if he did, they wouldn't hear him._

_He turned to the stands, watching as realization set in on lovely Maddie's face. Her mouth fell open and she clasped her hands to her face to cover it, tears starting to ripple down her cheeks. Her hands moved from her mouth to her eyes, and she was sobbing hard. Cedric wanted to hold her, kiss those tears away and let her know that all was well. He had never been more frustrated in his life. If he was just able to get up and hold her, to let her know that everything was alright… Why couldn't his soul go back into his body? Why couldn't he help her?_

_It downright broke and shattered his heart, watching her cry. He loved her, just so much. He had already hurt her enough; now he was dead, just to top it all off. Had he been able to, he might have cried, too, at the sight of his true love crying. His heart was in a million little pieces, and wouldn't be whole again until he could calm her down some._

_"I love you so much, honey," he said. "I'm okay now, I'm safe."_

_But nobody could hear him, so Maddie continued to cry. He wanted to scream at himself; it was so frustrating watching her cry and not being able to do anything about it. When Professor Sprout forced them back to the common room, Maddie continued to sob and shake all over, and Cedric wanted to follow her, to be there with her literally in spirit, just so that she wouldn't be alone. But it seemed that he was confined to where his body was; he couldn't leave so long as his physical form was here._

_Madam Pomfrey came to collect him for examination, and so his spiritual form was brought along for the ride. His parents, too, followed after her. When they got to the hospital wing, she poked and prodded at him with her wand, and she had a deep set frown on her face. "That's odd," she said, "he's still warm."_

_Curiously, she took her wand and said, "_Rennervate._"_

_Almost immediately, Cedric began to visibly breathe. The piece of him watching the scene suddenly realized what had happened. He was not dead; he had just been knocked out of his own body._

_"How…how did you…?" Amos asked, his tears suddenly gone, but Madam Pomfrey ignored him, looking at Cedric, whose chest was rising and falling like normal. His color started to return to its usual peach._

_"Now we just have to wait for him to wake up on his own. There's nothing we can do but wait at this point."_

_For about half an hour, Lucy and Amos watched their son for a sign of life besides the breathing. Lucy even came to sit on the edge of his bed, waiting, as Amos stood behind her. Happy tears slid down her cheeks, tears of absolute relief and hopefulness, as she watched her son slumber on._

_If watching Maddie and his parents cry without being able to do something about it was frustrating, it didn't compare to the time between Madam Pomfrey reviving him and the moment that his soul rejoined his body. When that happened, it again felt like he was being pushed through a tube, but somehow, it wasn't painful, or uncomfortable in the slightest. As soon as his soul went back to his body, his body regained consciousness. He could finally hear and see of his own accord, but he kept his eyes closed, trying to flush out all of the memories that he had of that night. _Especially _the memories of Lord Voldemort._

_At long last, Cedric opened his eyes and looked around the room curiously. His eyes fell on his mother first thing, and he had never been so happy to see her in his entire life._

_"Cedric, honey," Lucy said in a quiet, soothing voice, "how are you feeling?"_

_He looked at the side of the bed and said, "Unusually empty."_

_"Let me get the nurse, alright, dear?" She stood and fetched Madam Pomfrey, who wasted no time in examining their son and asking questions._

_"Can you tell me what happened tonight?" were the first words out of her mouth._

_He then filled her in on the events of the evening. When he got to the part where Voldemort's assistant used a spell that he didn't know, Madam Pomfrey asked if he remembered the incantation._

_"It was…I think it was _Vita Mortuoum,_ I think."_

_"Ah, just as I expected." She turned to his parents. "That's the most powerful stunning spell there is. Makes the victim appear dead. The only sign that they're alive is the fact that they are still warm to the touch even hours later. It also causes the victim to have an out of body experience, because the soul leaves the body." She looked back at Cedric, then said, "Did that happen to you?"_

_"Yeah—yeah, it did."_

_"Just as I expected," she repeated. "I'll be back—I need to go get you some medicine to help you sleep."_

_"Don't bother," he said, sitting up straight. She stared at him quizzically. "I need to talk to my parents."_

_They came closer to him as Madam Pomfrey disappeared out of sight. As soon as she disappeared around a corner, Cedric asked, "Where is she?"_

_"She just left, Cedric…" his father said, but Cedric rolled his eyes._

_"Not the nurse. You know who I'm talking about, Dad. Where is Maddie? I need to see her…"_

_Amos grimaced. "Are you sure?"_

_"Like it or not, Dad, she's still my best friend, _and_ she's my girlfriend. I need to let her know I'm okay… I've got to see her."_

_"I forbid it."_

_"Amos, please!" Lucy said, then called Madam Pomfrey over again. "I'm so sorry to bother you, but could you possibly send someone to the Hufflepuff common room? We need to see Maddie Lewis immediately."_

_Madam Pomfrey scurried off to find Professor Sprout and Amos went back to sit in his chair, then Lucy took Cedric's hand in hers. "We are so immensely proud of you, Cedric," she said quietly. "And we're so glad to see you right now. We love you so much, dear."_

_"I love you, too," Cedric said, feeling his heart skip a beat as he thought about Maddie. In just a few minutes, he was going to be telling her that, too, and he could feel his skin crawl in anticipation._

_When she arrived, Cedric felt his heartbeat increase, and she looked so lovely, even if tears still littered her perfect, heavenly face. It was then that he knew, deep in his heart, that he had made the right choice. If he hadn't ended up with Maddie, how in the world would he get along? She was the perfect match for him; she kept him grounded, and he brought out the best in her. For the life of him, he couldn't imagine how he could have ever wanted somebody else, other than her._

_He loved Maddie Stefani Lewis with all of his heart._

* * *

><p>When Cedric finished retelling the night's events to Maddie, she had even more tears in her eyes. God, Cedric couldn't handle the pain of seeing her so upset. He kissed her forehead, whispering, "It's okay now, honey. I'm safe. Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise."<p>

And then he kissed her lips, not caring that his parents were watching, not caring that Madam Pomfrey might be watching, too, not caring about anything but the girl before him. "I love you, baby," he whispered into her ear.

"What'd you just call me?" she asked, an incredulous look on her face.

"I—I called you 'baby'," he said, apparently a bit shocked over it, too. "Because I have to protect you."

"After tonight, I think _you_ need protecting," she said, her voice quivering.

Cedric placed a finger on her lip, silencing her. "_Sssh._ Don't worry about me, baby. I'm okay. Everything is okay now. I can take care of myself. I love you." His finger trailed off her lip, down to her hair, as he held the nape of her neck in one hand.

"Don't ever scare me like that again."

Tears were running down her cheeks again, so he moved his hands yet again and held her in a tight but loving embrace, wondering if she could feel how much his heart was pounding through his clothes.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I won't. I love you."

Amos cringed every single time that Cedric said that word. What in the world was he thinking, talking about love like it was absolutely nothing? He was about to say something, but then he looked over at his son, and saw, to his astonishment…

Cedric was crying.

He was holding Maddie in his arms and he was crying. Not hard, not audibly like she was. Tears were running down his face, but he was making no noise. She had her face buried in his chest and he was rubbing her back soothingly. She was never the wiser to the fact that he was crying. But why _was _he crying?

"Thank God, he's okay," Lucy whispered, tears running down her face too.

Amos took her hand in his and squeezed it. "Let's hope that nothing like this ever happens again?"

"I don't know if I'd be able to stand that."

Cedric did not hear his parents' whispers, focusing only on ending the tears of both his girlfriend and himself. He held her as close to him as he possibly could, letting her cry until she was calmed down. "I love you, sweetheart," he said, in the most even voice he could manage. "I love you so much. I'm safe. It's okay. I'm okay."

She continued to sob and whimper, so he gently tilted her head back and kissed her lips tenderly, if only to stop the tears. It was absolutely breaking his heart that she was so upset, but he understood the reasons for it. She was frightened; it was easy to see in her eyes. She had been through so much that night, thinking that her boyfriend was dead.

But Cedric had been through a lot, too. Never, not in a million years, did he think he would ever see Lord Voldemort in the flesh, nor did he think he would ever have such a brutal near death experience. He could still feel all the same emotions he had felt that night inside his mind, could still hear the cold, dark voice yelling, "Kill the spare!" If he focused hard, it still felt as though a piece of the maze had a grip on him and was trying to do away with him. Krum, it seemed, was still torturing him with that curse. And Harry was still unable to help him as he met the darkest wizard ever born.

But somehow, that didn't compare to what he was feeling now. They were two entirely separate emotions, but they still coexisted and intermingled, and he didn't like either of them. He hated the fact that Maddie was so shook up over what happened, and that not even his usual means of calming her were having much effect. He could hold her and kiss her all he wanted (and Merlin knew he wanted to, very much), but she was still not being placated by this action. She was still struggling to calm down, even though she could clearly see that Cedric was alright.

"Ssh," he said into her hair, quietly, so that nobody would overhear. "It's all okay. Just calm down, sweetie. Calm down. Nothing is going to hurt me, I promise. Everything is okay. Sssh. Ssh. Don't cry, baby. Don't worry. It's over. It's done. And I'm safe, honey. I'm safe."

He felt so hypocritical telling her not to cry when he could feel tears running down his cheeks, too, but it was _different_ when it was her that was in tears. The sound of her crying completely broke his heart. He never wanted her to be upset ever again; he would have done anything to silence her.

So why was he crying? He really wasn't sure where his tears came from. Was he just that upset that _she _was upset, or was he still afraid of what he had seen that night? Or was it both?

Well, on the same token, he didn't know if her tears came from what she had _thought _she'd seen that night, or if she was just so relieved. Maybe both.

Before long, her sobs had turned into just simple whimpers, and he held her tighter in his arms than he thought possible. He never wanted to let go. It wasn't just because he loved her. Now, his bone crushing embrace was due to the fact that there had been a moment that night when they both thought they'd never have this chance again.

A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey reemerged, appearing at his bedside. "Miss Lewis, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Mr. Diggory needs his rest and…"

"Can we have just a few more minutes?" Cedric asked, moving one of his hands off her shoulder and intertwining his fingers with hers.

"_Two minutes,_ and that is _it,_ Mr. Diggory, it's nearly midnight!"

He nodded at Madam Pomfrey as she disappeared, then turned his attention back to Maddie. They had been through so much that year. They had experienced infidelity, an excruciating breakup, a struggle to regain trust, gossip, teasing, judgmental looks, parents who didn't understand, and now, they had nearly lost one another permanently.

"You need your rest, too, honey," he said quietly, brushing a long blonde strand of hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. "I don't want you to worry about me anymore, alright? I love you."

Before she had a chance to respond, he was kissing her, holding her face in his hands, and forgetting for a moment where he was and why he was there in the first place. Somehow, their kissing always made him feel so tranquil, so at peace. He finally looked at her again and placed a hand on the nape of her neck. He kissed her forehead before saying, "Go ahead, go on up to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"I love you, Cedric."

"I love you, too, baby."

Before Madam Pomfrey had a chance to come back, they held hands for just a few moments, staring deeply into one another's eyes, then Maddie stood to exit. Neither one of them really wanted her to leave, but she finally made up her mind to do it, not looking back at him as she did; it would just be all the more difficult to leave if she was still watching him. As she walked away, Cedric refused to relinquish his grip on her hand until the very last possible second, and as she walked away from him, his fingers slipped out of hers.

Maddie passed Cedric's parents, trying her hardest to avoid eye contact with Amos. Lucy, however, caught her eye and she jumped out of her chair, walking up to Maddie and reaching into a pocket, producing a tissue and dabbing at the young girl's cheeks. "Your makeup is a mess, sweetie."

Amos watched and couldn't help but think that Braiden's daughter was growing up entirely too fast. First she was in a relationship with Cedric, claiming to be in love with him; now, she was wearing _makeup? _While the mascara that was running down her cheeks did little to help her appearance, Amos couldn't help but wonder: _What next?_ Couldn't she just slow down and enjoy being young? It was a sad fact of life that youth was wasted on the young.

Lucy worked on cleaning her up while Cedric laid back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Amos recognized the look on Cedric's face. It was fear. _Fear from the graveyard, no doubt._

Finally, Lucy had managed to make Maddie look presentable and hugged her, saying, "It's so good to see you, dear." After they broke apart, the young girl left without uttering a single word; it seemed that if she opened her mouth and said _anything_, tears would come pouring out.

Cedric watched her leave, hoping beyond hope that she rested easy that night. Madam Pomfrey had promised _him _something to help him sleep. Now, he was cursing himself that he didn't request she stay in the hospital wing with him, so that she could get the same treatment. And that night, they didn't have the option of running into each other at two in the morning, not unless she started to sleepwalk into the hospital wing.

His parents came back to his bed once again, and his mother kissed his forehead, saying, "We are so proud of you, Cedric."

"So immensely proud," his father said, and despite the animosity Cedric knew he held for his girlfriend, it looked and sounded like he really meant it.

They stood and talked quietly for a little bit, until a noise made them stop. The door to the hospital wing opened, and Harry entered, followed by Dumbledore and a black dog. Madam Pomfrey immediately started to fuss over the dog, but Harry's eyes locked with Cedric's, and he called out, "Cedric—you're…"

"I'm okay," he said, feeling as though he had said it a million times that evening. "I'll explain everything later."

Harry simply nodded back, then Madam Pomfrey showed him to a bed, disappearing back into her office. When she returned, she held two bottles of a purple potion in one hand, two goblets in another. She stopped besides Harry's bed, handing him one of each, then moved to Cedric, telling them both, "You'll need to drink all of this, you two. It's a potion for dreamless sleep."

Cedric didn't say aloud what he had been thinking: he didn't _want _dreamless sleep. He did want to block out any thoughts of the third task, but he wanted to dream about Maddie, about his love for her and his desire to protect her. He wanted to dream about the possibility of his father accepting their relationship, about his friends all supporting them, too. He wanted to dream that he was kissing her as he told her he loved her, holding her in his arms and never letting go.

Still, Cedric drank several mouthfuls of the potion, immediately feeling too exhausted to even think about his girlfriend or what had happened to him that day. He fell asleep almost immediately, only just aware of his mother, ever the maternal type, tucking him into bed and kissing his forehead, running her fingers through his hair. For once in his life, he didn't mind that he was babying him. He didn't care, because he was too tired to care.

He drifted off to sleep, feeling oddly content with how things had turned out, even though a nagging voice in the back of his mind told him that he shouldn't be.

* * *

><p><strong>Do you all still hate me…? If you do, oopsies. So yay Cedric's alive we can all stop hating me now. I don't really have any blurbs about my life to share here, but I do have to say that there is one more chapter left, and I hope you all enjoy it. There's going to be a couple of announcements at the end of that one, including my name. ;) Yes I am just that determined to make friends, don't judge. It's honestly very bittersweet to be getting to the end of this. Like I've said before, I've been thinking of and attempting to write this fanfiction for years. It's really kind of nostalgic to be finally finishing it. Also, just because it's all too fitting, the final update will be posted on Valentine's Day because I don't have a Valentine to spend it with. :l Yeah. Anyway, please review!<strong>

**- Hatter of Madness**


	24. The End of the School Year

When Cedric woke up, it was still nearly pitch black in the hospital wing. He couldn't imagine the reason why for this… But then he registered shouting voices, and Molly Weasley hissing, "They'll wake them if they don't shut up!"

"What are they shouting about?" Bill asked. "Nothing else can have happened, can it?"

"Nonsense," Cedric's father said. "It's too early in the morning for…"

"Like that's stopped dark wizards before, Amos!" Molly said.

Cedric started to sit up in bed to see what was going on, but his mother was beside him, smoothing his hair down and whispering, "Go back to sleep, dear."

"That's Fudge's voice," Molly whispered as she listened to a sound outside the hospital wing and Cedric fell back to bed, still listening in on the conversation. "And that's Minerva McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?"

Cedric glanced over at the door to the hospital wing, but he couldn't see anything other than Harry, who Cedric couldn't tell was awake or still fast asleep. At first, he didn't hear anything but the whispering voices in the hospital wing with them, but as he adjusted to being roused, he could hear the argument that Mrs. Weasley was talking about:

"Regrettable, but all the same, Minerva—"

"You should never have brought it inside the castle! When Dumbledore finds out—"

Harry was definitely awake, because as the hospital doors burst open and light fell in the room, Cedric could see that he sat up in bed and put on his glasses. He, too, wanted to see what was happening. Lucy was ensuring that Cedric didn't sit up, but he did turn his head toward the sound, hoping to see what was happening.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, was calling as he entered, followed closely behind by McGonagall and Snape.

"He's not here," Molly said, anger clear in her voice. "This is a hospital wing, Minister, don't you think you'd do better to—"

As she spoke, however, the door opened a second time, and Dumbledore himself appeared, crossing quickly to Fudge, McGonagall, and Snape. "What has happened?" he asked, apparently not in the mood to be having this discussion either. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you—I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch—"

_Barty Crouch? _Who was Barty Crouch?

"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore, Dumbledore!" McGonagall shrieked. "The Minister has seen to that!"

Snape finally spoke up, apparently not in the mood for this conversation either, but it seemed that the reason he wasn't in the mood was because he was _angry _at the Minister over something… "When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events, he seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch—"

"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" McGonagall interrupted, looking very hotheaded. Though it wasn't uncommon for her to lose her temper, Cedric had never once seen her so angry. He again struggled to sit up, but his mother was determined to keep him in bed. "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but—"

"My dear woman!" Fudge interrupted next, and just like McGonagall, he seemed angrier than Cedric ever imagined possible. "As Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous—"

"The moment that—that thing entered the room," McGonagall said, speaking over Fudge, apparently wishing that _he_ wasn't in the castle, "it swooped down on Crouch and—and—"

Though Cedric had never seen it in person—except for when Harry had been attacked by a dementor in the Quidditch game, Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor, the year before, and even then those were just glimpses—he knew exactly what McGonagall was fumbling in trying to describe. The dementor had given Crouch (whoever he was) the Dementor's Kiss. It had sucked his soul out through his mouth, a fate worse than death.

"By all accounts, he is no loss!" Fudge snapped. "It seems he has been responsible for several deaths!"

"But he cannot now give testimony, Cornelius," Dumbledore said. It was unlike Dumbledore to shout, so his voice was at its normal pitch and volume, but the anger was written clear as day across his face. "He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."

"Why he killed them? Why, that's no mystery, is it? He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!"

"Lord Voldemort"—a shudder went through Cedric as the headmaster spoke the name of the wizard he had seen that night, and the hand that Lucy had on her son's shoulder suddenly squeezed it tight, as though in fear—"_was_ giving him instructions, Cornelius. Those people's deaths were mere products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."

"You-Know-Who…returned? Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore."

Fudge didn't believe it? But _how? _Every time that Cedric blinked, he could see Voldemort and his assistant behind his closed lids. He could hear the cold voice, feel the sheer power of the wizard before him. How he had managed to escape with his life was beyond him, but the fact was, he had almost died that night, due to Voldemort's power. And Fudge was trying to claim that nothing had happened?

"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you, we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort—learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins—went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return. When Harry and Cedric touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, they were transported straight to Voldemort. Harry, at least, witnessed Voldemort's return. He told me all. I will explain it all to you if you will step up to my office."

Fudge looked back at the two boys, who people were beginning to realize were no longer sleeping, but Dumbledore said, "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry or Cedric tonight."

"You are—er—prepared to take Harry's word on this, are you, Dumbledore?"

"Certainly, I believe Harry. I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's account of what happened after he and Cedric touched the Triwizard Cup; the two stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."

"You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and a boy who…well…"

"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge," Harry said, shocking them all with his voice coming suddenly, after he had been silent for so long.

"And if I have?" Fudge was looking at Dumbledore, not even regarding Harry as he spoke. "I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet. A Parselmouth, eh? And having funny turns all over the place—"

"I assume that you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar?" Dumbledore said. "Listen to me, Cornelius. Harry is as sane as you or I. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."

"I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before…"

"Look, I saw Voldemort come back!" Harry shouted. He tried to stand, but just as Lucy had done to Cedric, Molly Weasley forced him back to the bed. Resigned to stay there, he just raised his voice as he said, "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy—"

With this sudden outburst, Lucy quickly relinquished her grip on Cedric's shoulder.

"Malfoy was cleared! A very old family—donations to excellent causes—"

"Macnair!"

"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!"

"Avery—Nott—Crabbe—Goyle—"

"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago! For heaven's sake, Dumbledore—the boy was full of some crackpot story at the end of last year too—his tales are getting taller, and you're swallowing them—the boy can talk to snakes, Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy!"

"He _is _trustworthy," Cedric said, finally speaking and sitting up. Several people in the room jumped; apparently, some of them thought they were looking at a ghost, a corpse, whereas others still thought that Cedric was still fast asleep, or perhaps paying no mind to the conversation. "And I saw You-Know-Who tonight, too. He's the reason why I'm in here."

"Oh?" Fudge clearly didn't believe him, and it showed on his face. "So, Dumbledore, you mean to tell me that you're going to believe two schoolboys and a madman on this?"

"Cedric Diggory happens to be one of the most honest and trustworthy students at this school," Professor Dumbledore said. "I'd take his word on just about anything."

"He's lost his mind!" Fudge said. "The maze tonight—it must have caused him to create this story—he lost consciousness, how could he have possibly seen You-Know-Who return…"

"I saw him before that happened," Cedric clarified. "He was there, in a graveyard. Harry and I—we both saw him."

"You're merely inventing this story to explain what happened to you tonight!"

"Cornelius, surely you aren't accusing my son of lying on such an important matter?" Amos asked, his blood obviously boiling something furious.

"I don't suppose you mean to tell me that you believe this story, too, Amos?"

"Of course I do. Cedric told us all that he saw You-Know-Who tonight, and I don't have any reason to suspect the contrary."

"Why, Amos, I'm sure that your boy is a wonderful person—I've seen him before, and he certainly is polite, and patient and kind—but to believe that You-Know-Who has returned just because your son wants an explanation for what happened to him tonight?"

Snape pulled back his sleeve, showing something to Cornelius Fudge, speaking in a low voice—surely so that Cedric didn't hear whatever it was that he was saying. It worked; he didn't hear a word that came out of the teacher's mouth, but Fudge backed away, eyes wide.

"I don't know what you and your staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I have heard enough. I have no more to add. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. I must return to the Ministry."

Fudge started to leave, but he paused, turning around to look at Harry and Cedric. "Your winnings," he said to the two of them. "One thousand Galleons for both of you. There should have been a presentation ceremony, but under the circumstances…"

He shoved his hat back onto his head (how long had he been holding it?) as he handed a sack of Galleons to Lucy and placed the other on the bedside table next to Harry's bed.

As Fudge left, Dumbledore turned back to the crowd in the hospital wing, giving instructions to all of those gathered there—including the black dog. At long last, he told Cedric's parents to follow him, thus leaving Harry and Cedric alone. Before he exited, however, he told them both, "You've got to take the rest of your potions, boys. You two have a good long sleep. Try and think about something else for a while." And with that, he was gone.

Cedric started to reach for the potion on his bedside table, not wanting to think about anything but sleep what with the way his head was suddenly pounding, but Harry's voice stopped him. "Cedric," he called out.

Cedric, straining to see in the dark, looked over at Harry as best as he could.

"I don't want that gold. You have it. Anyone can have it. I shouldn't have won it. It should've been yours."

For a half second, Cedric's eyes flicked over to the sack of Galleons on the table, thinking about it. Two thousand Galleons…the kinds of things he could do with that money…

But he couldn't take it, not when Harry had properly won it. He finally shook his head, making eye contact with Harry again.

"No, Harry. You deserve it."

"It should've been you who won it—you who won the tournament. You were the best wizard out of the four of us."

Cedric couldn't help but feel flattered at the statement, but Harry had no idea just how deserving he was of all that gold. "Harry, I don't want it."

"But I should've just let you win tonight…"

Cedric wanted to laugh, but he only let out, "Harry, if you had convinced me to take the cup by myself, I might be dead right now. It was a Portkey. Nobody was meant to take it but you. Really, I should be giving _you _what I won—but I'm guessing that you don't want it."

Harry fell silent, not knowing what else to say.

"Now, go back to sleep," Cedric said, feeling thoroughly exhausted. "We both need some sleep."

With that, he picked up the purple potion, ignoring the goblet and throwing all of it back into his mouth. Immediately, sleep threatened to claim him, and he only had time to set the container that the potion was in on the bedside table before he was asleep again.

* * *

><p>The following morning when Cedric woke, his parents were still fussing over him. Though he didn't like the attention, he didn't blame them; they had nearly lost him just twelve hours earlier. Harry, too, was awake, watching the meeting. Cedric's heart went out to him; he didn't have parents to worry over him in this way. He wanted to tell his parents that they should just continue this conversation once he was home from school for the year, feeling awkward to subject Harry to their meeting, but Harry stood up to join them, saying, "Cedric?"<p>

Lucy, who had been talking, stopped speaking, looking at Harry.

"You…you want to go to breakfast together?"

Cedric looked at Harry quizzically. What was this? Some kind of peace offering? They hadn't exactly been on equal footing that year, try as Cedric might. He tried to smile, but memories of the night before came flooding back to him, so he simply nodded and said, "Just give me a minute." He turned back to his parents and told him that he loved them, that he could take care of himself.

"We'll see you when you come home next week," his mother said, hugging him tightly, then she turned to Harry. "You look after yourself, now."

Harry had the sack of Galleons in his hand. "You take this," he said, trying to hand it to her. "It should've been Cedric's, he got there first, you take it—"

She backed away from him and the money, shaking her head as she said, "Oh no, it's yours, dear, I couldn't…you keep it."

With that, she and Amos exited the hospital wing, and Cedric watched their retreating figures, thinking in the back of his mind that there seemed to be an unspoken animosity between them. He wondered what that had to do with… Maybe the argument he and his father had had yesterday… Or perhaps what had happened the night before with Fudge and Dumbledore… Either way, they seemed to be very tense towards each other as they exited.

He looked at Harry then, saying, "Harry, I do not want that gold."

"That's why I tried to give it to your mother. You deserve it more than I do."

Cedric shook his head, thinking that nobody deserved it less than he did. He had gotten so far ahead in the tournament due to the help of Harry and Professor Moody—who, his mother had explained, was a Death Eater; more correctly, he was the Barty Crouch that Dumbledore and the Minister had spoken about, just disguised—and also, in part, to sheer dumb luck.

"Cedric, I shouldn't have even been in this tournament in the first place," Harry said as they walked down the hallway.

"But you were, and you did a lot better than I did, or could have done at your age."

"But…"

"And you were a better person this school year than I was, regardless of the Tournament."

For the first time that day, his thoughts flicked to Maddie. How had he gone so long without thinking about her? He couldn't wait to see her again, to hold her in his arms, and to kiss her senseless. He loved her so deeply, and the fact that they even had a second chance to start with boggled his mind something terrible. Harry had deserved her more…

Harry seemed to think the same things that Cedric was thinking; at the very least, he was thinking of the same person, because he said, "You really love her, don't you, Cedric?"

"More than you could ever imagine," he said.

"You know, I was her best friend for a little while," Harry continued, "and she told me so much about you… She's crazy about you, too."

"I don't understand why."

"Yeah, well…" It seemed as though Harry had to refrain himself from finishing that sentence: _neither can I._ Cedric could see the sad look on his face, and he sighed, struggling to find the right words to say.

"Listen, Harry. If it's any consolation, she was crazy about you when you two were together."

"Really?"

"Really. And I want you to know one thing. She is truly the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I plan on treating her the way she deserves this time around."

"I'm glad to hear it."

They said nothing more for the rest of the walk to the Great Hall. When they arrived, it was obvious from the chatter that Dumbledore had told the entire school what had really happened the night before—all the whispers and conversations that the two of them could hear all said something along the lines of Cedric being alive, and Moody sacked, and Harry defeating Voldemort yet again.

It seemed that somebody looked up when they entered, because a voice yelled out, "_Look! _It's them! Harry and Cedric!"

The school all burst into applause, as though they had accomplished an even greater feat than they had—although it was no small task, facing Voldemort and coming out victorious. As Harry walked towards the Gryffindor table (a bit embarrassed, it seemed, of all the applause), Cedric stood in the entryway, looking at the row of Hufflepuffs.

His eyes found her at last, and she was looking up at him like he put the stars in the sky.

He didn't care for a moment about school rules, or rules of etiquette, or anything of the sort. Before he could stop himself, he had propelled forward, running towards her. She, too, jumped up and dashed toward him, as though afraid she would never get a chance to see him again. They met in the middle, and Cedric engulfed Maddie in his arms immediately. Like usual, she stood on tiptoe to reach him, despite the fact that he was bending forward slightly in order to match her short stature. But then, he just couldn't contain himself, and he picked her up off the ground. The way that her arms were wrapped around his neck seemed to increase in urgency, almost as if she was afraid that he'd drop her, though he had the impression that she trusted him. He set her down again after a few moments, but he didn't let her go. He _couldn't _let her go.

He just couldn't keep his hands to himself; he shut his eyes and allowed his hands to move freely as they ran up and down her arms, her back, shoulders, side, neck... His eyes were shut so tight so as to save what she felt like in his arms to memory.

Separating them a bit, he finally opened his eyes, looking down at her, and she opened her eyes, too. Though a wide smile was plastered on her face, tears had sprung up in her eyes. For once in his life, he was just so grateful to see them there. He knew what they were from. They were happy tears. She was crying because she was so happy to see him, not because she was upset.

Again, he shut his eyes as he kissed her, keeping one hand on the nape of her neck and the other on the small of her back, moving his hands only slightly in the small vicinity of where they both lay. He was only minutely aware of how one of her feet left the ground. She still stood on tiptoe on her other foot, however, so he not only was holding her close to him, he was also helping her stay upright. They both separated for a moment to take a breath, eyes closed, but were immediately back to what they were doing, and one of Maddie's hands reached up and touched his face as he deepened their kiss.

Merlin, he loved her. How in the world did something so absolutely splendid and amazing happen to _him,_ of all people?

He finally released her from his death grip, pulling his lips off hers, but he continued to hold her in his hands by her elbows, never wanting her to leave his sight again. She had moved her arms off his neck, instead wrapping them around his waist. When he looked up, he realized that they were still in the Great Hall, and that the teachers had been watching their display of affection, looking a bit bored—or rather touched, in Dumbledore's case.

Cedric felt only the smallest bit of embarrassment. He didn't really care so much about what would happen to the two of them, if they would be punished, because his girlfriend was the only thing in the entire world that he needed.

He slipped an arm around her waist, glancing at the empty seat that she had vacated. She had been sitting in a mixture of her friends and his, all of whom seemed very happy to see him alive and well. The seat that she had been sitting in wasn't just a seat for one person, he realized; she had been saving him a spot to eat breakfast with her.

"I love you, Maddie," he whispered.

"I love you, too."

They went and sat down together, and he intertwined his fingers with hers, hearing all the relief and the happiness in their friends' voices. What really shocked him, however, was when Edward said, "Cedric…I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For how horribly I've treated you since February? I can obviously see now that you two have something…something really amazing, and I wish I would have seen it sooner. Congratulations on winning, by the way."

Cedric shook his head, glancing over at where Harry sat with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. "I didn't win," he said. "I might've tied for first, but Harry was the real winner."

As he said this, he even realized how untrue it was. Yes, Harry deserved to win the tournament, which was really what he had meant. But Cedric had won something, too. As clichéd as it was, he had won the heart and affection of Maddie Lewis. He had won her over for the second time in his life, and even though their relationship wasn't perfect, it was as close to perfect as he would ever get.

* * *

><p>On the final day of term, the entire school was abuzz with how the house points had stacked up. To no one's great surprise, Gryffindor came in first again, but the rest of the house standings had really caused some immense shock. Slytherin had come in fourth, their worst ranking in years; Ravenclaw had consistently come in third, again; but Hufflepuff had somehow managed to move up to second place, despite the years that the house had spent on the bottom.<p>

As Cedric and his friends put their luggage out to be put on the train, he caught sight of Maddie and her friends coming down to the front of the school, each carrying their own trunk. He excused himself from his friends for a moment, walking up to her and asking, "Need a hand?"

The two of them managed to get her trunk to where all the others were and would be collected at by Hagrid, then he draped an arm over her shoulder. "Things have been really crazy this year, haven't they?"

"Absolutely crazy."

He had started to lean in to kiss her, to tell her that everything had worked out in the end, but a voice caught him off guard: "Cedric! _Cedric!_"

They both looked up to see Cho Chang hurrying toward them, her friends waiting not too far behind, all looking a bit displeased that she was going to be holding them up. Cedric dropped his arm off of Maddie's shoulders and down to her hand, gripping it tightly as though to show Cho that there was just no shaking his affection for her.

"Hi," she said a bit awkwardly when she finally reached them. "Can I, uh, have a word with you?"

He turned to Maddie a bit reluctantly, then said, "I'll catch up with you later—"

"Actually, I need to speak to both of you."

He stopped, gripping Maddie's hand even tighter than he had been a moment earlier. "Oh?"

"I—I just wanted to apologize." She was flushing bright red, but continued talking as though she felt no embarrassment at all. "For everything."

Cedric frowned, glancing at Maddie, but she seemed just as confused as he was. "Everything?"

"It's obvious to me now—after the Third Task the other day—that you two really do care about each other. I…when I talked to Rita Skeeter a while ago and sold her that story, I never imagined that it'd affect you so much. I thought it was just that, you know… A story. I didn't ever imagine it'd create this much controversy. Although, to be quite honest with you… I was hoping it would. So that maybe you'd break up, and so that maybe you'd take me back," she finished, looking up at Cedric.

"And also," she continued, before either one of them had a chance to start talking, "I'm sorry for what I said about both of you when we broke up, Cedric. I didn't really mean any of it. I was just…angry." There was a long silence in which the three of them didn't know what to say. Finally, Cho piped up with, "I understand if you don't want to accept my apology—I wouldn't either—but…"

"I accept. Thank you."

Cho and Cedric looked, in surprise, at Maddie, who had just spoken. "You do?" they both said at the same time. She nodded at Cho, ignoring the quizzical look Cedric was giving her.

"I've been in your position, Cho, and it's not exactly fun. I understand what you're talking about. I forgive you for what happened this year."

Cho looked back and forth between the two halves of the couple, her color slowly returning to normal. At long last, she reached into the pocket of her jeans, producing a small bag of coins, saying, "Here—it's what Rita Skeeter paid me for the information on that article. It's not much, but I never spent any of it. I felt bad about doing that… You take it."

"I couldn't accept it," Cedric said, pushing it back towards her.

"You?" she said, offering it to Maddie, but she simply shook her head. Cho lowered her hand, defeated, as she finally stammered out, "I don't want it."

"And neither do we," Cedric said, "but thank you, for the offer and for your apology. You're a good person, Cho."

He smiled at her politely, and she simply nodded in return, saying, "Well—I suppose I'll see you both next school year."

"Take care," Cedric said, and she disappeared. As she walked out of sight, he turned back to Maddie, saying, "I know you didn't want the money that Cho just offered you, but…" He reached into a pocket, producing the bag of Galleons (Maddie's eyes widened; _how _in the world he managed to keep it hidden was beyond her) that he had won from the tournament, holding it out to her.

"Are you offering me _a thousand Galleons?_" she asked, eyes wide.

He nodded at her, looking at her with a devoted and loving look in his eye. "It's yours if you want it. Because I don't. I don't want it. Not when I have you. Harry's really the one who deserves it, but he doesn't want it either…"

She stood on tiptoe, kissing Cedric's cheek to silence him. "It's _yours._ You earned it. Besides, there is no way that I'd be able to accept that kind of money from you without it sitting on my conscious every day."

He stared down at her, his cheek burning from where she had touched him, but he simply pocketed the money again. "You're so noble," he said at last.

She rolled her eyes. "So says you."

In the distance, they could hear the whistle of the train, announcing that now, everyone could begin boarding. At its sharp blast, Cedric returned the favor that Maddie had just paid him and bent forward, kissing her cheek and removing his fingers from hers, wrapping an arm around her waist. They continued on towards the train, but Cedric was stopped by first Krum, who shook his hand without a word, and then Fleur, who congratulated him on placing first and kissed his cheek, apparently either not noticing or caring that his girlfriend stood just feet from her.

They then ran into Harry, and Cedric offered a hand to the younger boy, saying, "I'll see you around, Harry."

"Bye, Cedric," he said, nodding at him. "See you next year." He then turned his attention to Maddie, and Cedric relinquished his grip on her hand so that she could say goodbye to Harry, too.

Harry could feel a sense of awkwardness about them—they hadn't exactly spoken to each other last on good terms—but Maddie flung her arms around Harry in an embrace, saying, "I'll see you next year, Harry. Be sure to write to me, if you can."

"Bye, Maddie," he said quietly. "I'll see you next year."

Suddenly remembering Cedric, Harry let go of her quickly, and Cedric grabbed hold of her hand again, nodding at Harry in lieu of saying goodbye. They joined Joseph and Eleanor, who (it seemed) had been waiting for the two of them. The four of them exited the school and got onto the Hogwarts Express, joining Liam and Amber in an otherwise empty compartment.

It was the first time that Maddie could remember ever sitting with Cedric on the train journey, and she just couldn't help but sit so that she was nearly in his lap; she sat on one side of him, and he had his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. She then laid her head on his chest, bringing her legs to rest on the remainder of the seat next to her. She could hear just how fast and how loud his heart was beating in his chest, in contrast to how calm he seemed, but his heartbeat was so fast and so loud that it matched hers.

The train ride home, Cedric sensed, was the last glimpse at normalcy he would feel for weeks, if not months or years, so he was sure to savor it. In just a few months' time, he reflected, Maddie would be fourteen and she and Amber would be beginning their fourth year at Hogwarts. He, Joseph, Liam, and Eleanor would all be seventh years, completing their final year at school.

Cedric glanced out the window to see that there was not a single cloud in the sky, and with that, he turned back to Maddie, kissing her forehead. The amount of love emanating from this compartment was almost tangible; Joseph was holding hands with Eleanor, and both of them wore broad smiles on their faces. Liam sat on the other side of Eleanor, with Amber squeezed onto the last bit of room the seat allowed, turned sideways with her legs draped over his. Cedric was holding Maddie in his arms, an entire side of the compartment to themselves, and though she seemed she was ready to drift off to sleep, whenever she spoke, there was no trace of drowsiness whatsoever.

All too soon, the train pulled into platform nine and three-quarters. Students began disembarking from the train, grabbing the belongings that had been brought aboard by Hagrid. Cedric helped Maddie carry her luggage off, grabbing his own in a second trip. The two of them went through the barrier together, their belongings now on a trolley.

Other than parents of students, there was absolutely no Muggles in between platforms nine and ten, a bit of an anomaly; Cedric couldn't recall that ever happening in the past. Joseph and Eleanor broke through the platform after they did, breaking him out of his thoughts, and Cedric turned to Joseph, saying, "Remember to write to me this summer, alright?"

"How could I forget?" Joseph asked. "I'll see you next year, mate."

Maddie, too, had been saying her last goodbyes to Amber, and when Cedric turned to her, she smiled up at him. "Ready?" he asked.

She nodded. "Ready."

The two of them walked through the crowd in search of their parents. Cedric was not too keen on seeing his father's reaction to the two of them walking together…

But they eventually found their parents standing together: there was Amos, an angry look in his eye; Lucy, a content look on her face; and Braiden and Katie, who stood together. Braiden's arms were crossed over his chest, and Katie stood rigid next to him. Their appearance said it all. Amos had told them about their children's relationship, and the two of them were not happy.

Cedric had started to turn to Maddie to say goodbye to her, if only for a little while, but Braiden grabbed her trunk off the trolley she was pushing and said, "Time to go," roughly. Katie put a hand forcefully on her daughter's shoulder, steering her in the direction of the exit.

Before Cedric could say a word, Amos had grabbed hold of him too and said, "Let's go, Cedric."

Cedric followed his parents out of King's Cross Station, watching Maddie until she disappeared from view amidst the sea of people leaving with their parents, exciting voices retelling what had happened that school year. She finally vanished before her parents did, who, it seemed, were attempting to keep her prisoner.

He knew that this summer was not going to be much fun for either of them, but he followed his parents to the parking lot, where his father had rented a car from the Ministry. He set his school trunk in the boot of the car, then climbed into the backseat. He stared out the window, his thoughts elsewhere, and even though he knew he had reason to be concerned, whenever his mind was with Maddie Lewis, he was at peace. As they drove away from the train station, he sat back in the seat, shutting his eyes and allowing the sunlight to wash over him as they finally drove towards home.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it. It feels so bittersweet to say that that's the end.<strong>

**So I'm not going to.**

**My first announcement is that, yes, a sequel to _Fearless _is currently being written. I'm going to take a bit of a break before it's published, but I _am_ writing one. It is going to be titled _Facing Fears,_ and it will be posted in March. The exact date will be Saturday, March 15—AKA, the Ides of March. I recommend putting me on author alert if you want to catch that story in the time being, otherwise on March 15 and 16 I would lurk about the Harry Potter section of this site in the Cedric Diggory romance story tag.**

**Now, next announcement is kind of just a general statement: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything you gave to me as I posted this story. I was not really expecting so many alerts and favorites to this story, to have such dedicated readers and reviewers. This story really developed a few years ago in 2009, when I read _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire._ Cedric was my favorite character, though I kind of thought Cho was dimensionless, so when he died, I was determined to write him a love interest that met my expectations but was flawed enough so that she'd be likeable. It took me a while, but finally Maddie Lewis popped into my head, and the more time I spent with her and Cedric, the more real their characters became to me, until I finally had this version of _Fearless._ I honestly feel a bit like J. K. Rowling as I close the first part of their story here, and I eagerly look forward to the publication of _Facing Fears._**

**Lastly, it is with great pleasure that I introduce myself to you. I've been signing off on all of these chapters as Hatter of Madness, but if any of you would like to find me outside of FF, I have a Twitter and an Instagram account. The usernames on both are NegativeNelliee (two e's), which obviously means that my first name is Nellie (one e). I'd love to get in touch with whoever wants to see me there!**

**And for the last time, thank you so much for it all. I never imagined once that this story would get the over seven thousand hits that it's gotten, or the many reviews, favorites, and alerts it has received. It means the world to me, really. In the month long break that I'm taking, I'm going to be focusing on my writing some more, and, in fact, I'm working on a novel called _Searching for Home._ Hopefully, I'll be able to finish it the same way that I've just closed off _Fearless. _It's really crazy for me to realize that _Fearless _is actually the length of a novel now, which gives me hope that I actually _can_ complete _Searching for Home._ Hopefully I'll be able to finish it in a timelier manner than _Fearless,_ which took me four and a half years to complete, from initial conception to now. I hope that you stick with me all the way to _Facing Fears,_ and I look forward to seeing you all on March fifteenth!**

**- Hatter of Madness**


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